Surface Transportation Board

Brightline West says its planned 218-mile passenger rail service will run from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., with 96% of its alignment within the median of the I-15 highway.

STB Advances $12B Brightline West Project

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has authorized construction and operation of a modified alignment of the high-speed passenger rail project proposed by private-sector firm Brightline West, subject to environmental mitigation measures.

STB’s Oberman Announces Departure

In a category 5 hurricane force stunning announcement, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairperson Martin J. Oberman announced late on Nov 16 that he will not seek renomination to a second term (his

BNSF, NTEC Reach Settlement (UPDATED Nov. 13)

BNSF and Navajo Transitional Energy Company, LLC (NTEC) have reached a settlement agreement to resolve their common carrier dispute, the companies told the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in a Nov. 9 filing.

STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman
Commentary

STB’s Torment of Precautions

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE, NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE: Napoleon Bonaparte observed that “the torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided.” Union Army General George B. McClellan was so tormented that he failed to pursue the Confederate army more aggressively. Most recently, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) appears afflicted with the torment—immobilized to take definitive action to protect captive shippers (those lacking effective transportation alternatives to a single railroad) from rail market power abuse.

STB Sets Procedural Schedule for Sanimax V. UP

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 2 denied Union Pacific’s (UP) motion to dismiss Sanimax USA LLC’s (Sanimax) service case against it and set a procedural schedule for the submission of damages evidence. STB Members Patrick J. Fuchs and Michelle A. Schultz dissented with separate expressions.