Author: Dr. William Huneke

Commentary

What Will STB Do With URCS?

Will this be the year STB revises or reforms URCS, the agency’s Uniform Rail Costing System? I doubt it. From my experience at STB, it is very hard to get the STB members to give URCS much attention. These days, with all the other items on STB’s agenda, I can’t imagine URCS has much priority, but STB is asking for comments.

Commentary

Just What Does STB Consider ‘Reasonable’?

Union Pacific and Sanimax are currently engaged in an interesting bit of litigation. It’s not a rate case or anything I worked on in my more than 15 years at the Surface Transportation Board. The question is whether UP has violated its “common carrier obligation.”

Commentary

Why CN’s Open Gateways Offer is a Big Deal

CN’s offer to keep gateways open on commercially reasonable terms is not getting the attention that it is due. This offer is a key part of its proposal to combine with Kansas City Southern—a transaction that significantly enhances competition.

Commentary

Put Aside Narrow Interests. Think About What’s Best

WATCHING WASHINGTON, JUNE 2020 ISSUE: This question should be at the forefront of the Surface Transportation Board’s agenda: What is the future of rail freight transportation? The STB should put all its other discretionary regulatory work to the side and call in the railroads and key stakeholders and facilitate a discussion of how the industry can recover to serve the future American economy. All internecine sniping and conflict should be pushed aside.

Commentary

STB “Whack a Mole”

When I was working at the Surface Transportation Board, I often felt trapped in a game of “Whack a Mole.” That was because STB rarely had time or staff to do more than react to the latest rate case, stakeholder petition or Congressional request. There is a sense of Whack a Mole in some of the flurry of STB regulatory reform proposals, particularly STB’s tinkering with the industry Cost of Capital calculation.