STB proposes to codify certain voluntary rail submissions

The Surface Transportation Board late last week issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to codify a longstanding voluntary practice of data reporting by the Class Is.

Through the Association of American Railroads, the Class Is have annually reported tare weight and loss and damage data for use in the board’s Uniform Railroad Costing System (URCS). In addition to formalizing this practice, the NPRM would allow the Class Is a choice of whether to provide tare weight and loss and damage data through AAR or file the data individually, STB officials said in a press release.

The STB’s predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission, adopted URCS as its general purpose costing system in 1989.

The board uses URCS for a variety of regulatory functions, including rate reasonableness and abandonment proceedings, to provide the railroad industry and shippers with a standardized costing model, to cost the board’s Carload Waybill Sample to develop industry cost information and to provide interested parties with basic cost information regarding railroad operations.

The STB's decision recognizes AAR's longstanding voluntary practice to provide annually the tare weight and loss and damage data. The board proposed the rule to formalize that reporting requirement to ensure continued availability of the data, STB officials said.

Comments on the NPRM are due June 13 and replies are due June 28.