Interest rates and Federal Reserve policy are prominent in the financial headlines. So, I have been looking at interest rates and possible impacts on railroad finances. I also looked at interest rates
“But first, while time does not permit me to cover all of the issues on the Board’s agenda, I want to discuss what, in my view, is of uppermost concern to the
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.
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.”
Jay Roman in a recent Railway Age article (STB’s Annual Rail Rate Index Study: A Deeper Dive – Railway Age) alleged the new STB rate study was flawed because it did not
On Dec. 17, the Surface Transportation Board released a new rate study, which you may have missed in the holiday rush. I know I did. If you did and have an interest
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.
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.
“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” — John Maynard Keynes
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.
