STB Rule: Streamlining US Class I Rail Reporting for Reliability

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Introduction

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to streamline and improve reporting requirements for Class I railroads. The proposed rulemaking is part of a four-part effort to enhance, focus, and automate the agency’s data collection.

Proposed Rulemaking

The STB is proposing to eliminate supplemental reporting of positive train control (PTC) expenditures. The agency also proposes to require the reporting of two critical metrics related to the board’s objective of ensuring rail service reliability, according to a press release.

Four-Part Effort

The four-part effort includes eliminating unneeded data collections, strengthening mission-critical data collections, streamlining filing and automating processing, and improving data visualization.

Background

The STB’s action follows a request from the Association of American Railroads and comments from shippers in multiple dockets, agency officials said.

Next Steps

Comments on the proposed rule are due Oct. 30.