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Yesterday, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) requesting that the agency adopt new rules governing reciprocal switching between Class Is.

The NIT League proposes that the board eliminate existing competitive access rules and precedents as they apply to reciprocal switching and require a Class I to enter into a competitive switching arrangement whenever a shipper or group of shippers demonstrate that certain “objective operating conditions” exist, NITL officials said in a prepared statement. A recent NITL survey found that changes to the STB’s reciprocal switching policies were deemed by shippers as “the most important reforms that could be undertaken by the agency,” and would be helpful in providing more efficient, reliable and cost-effective rail transportation, they said.

The NIT League listed the following conditions that would trigger the imposition of a competitive switching agreement:
• a shipper’s or receiver’s facilities for which switching is sought are served by only one Class I;
• there is no effective inter- or intra-modal competition for the rail movements; and
• there is (or can be) a “working interchange” between two or more Class Is within a “reasonable distance” of a shipper’s facilities.

A competitive switching agreement would not be imposed if either rail carrier can establish that the arrangement is not feasible or unsafe, or that it would “unduly hamper the ability of either carrier to serve its shippers,” NITL officials said.

“The board’s existing competitive access rules have not worked. No shipper has ever succeeded in gaining access to a competitive line in today’s regulatory framework,” said NITL President Bruce Carlton. “The new approach we are seeking would be a first step toward correcting that imbalance. It is a positive and balanced step that can be taken by the board to enhance competition in many rail markets.”

A special task group organized under the auspices of NITL’s Railroad Transportation Committee and the league’s counsel developed the proposal.