Reciprocal Switching

The Surface Transportation Board stated it has unanimously adopted a final rule to implement new regulations at 49 CFR part 1145. Which it said “sets forth a path for shippers and receivers to petition the Board for the prescription of a reciprocal switching statement.

In this podcast, LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman interviews Ian Jefferies, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads.

The Washington, D.C.-based Surface Transportation Board (STB), an independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers, recently announced it has extended its reply comment period, for Docket No. EP 711, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) focusing on providing rail service with access to reciprocal switching as a remedy for poor service, by two weeks, to December 20.

Earlier today, the Washington, D.C.-based Surface Transportation Board (STB), an independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers, unanimously released a railroad service-focused Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) focused on reciprocal switching.

On July 9, Martin J. Oberman, Chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Surface Transportation Board (STB), an independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers, lauded the White House’s actions to foster competition in U.S. businesses, commemorating the one-year anniversary of Executive Order 14036, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.”

With the February 14 filing date for the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) proposed reciprocal switching regulations earlier this week, various freight railroad stakeholders made their cases for and against the case for it in comments filed to the STB. A public hearing hosted by the STB on these regulations is scheduled for March 15 and 16 at the STB’s Washington, D.C.-based headquarters.

Late last month, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) provided information regarding its public hearing on proposed reciprocal switching obligations, which is scheduled for March 15-16, and will be held at its Washington, D.C.-based office.

With the supply chain remaining front and center, as it relates to the overall economy and goods movement, there was no shortage of things to address for Ian Jefferies, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, at the RailTrends Conference hosted by Progressive Railroading and independent railroad analyst Tony Hatch earlier this month.

The recent executive order issued by the White House late last week, focusing on promoting competition within the American economy, has brought no shortage of opinions from supply chain stakeholders.

While the interminable debate between business interests and the freight railroad sector’s chief regulatory arm continues to linger, one thing remains certain: the state of proposed freight railroad competitive, or reciprocal switching remains divisive and stalled out on the tracks. That was made clear in a letter sent today to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Ann Begeman, Vice Chairman Patrick Fuchs, and Member Martin Oberman from the Washington, D.C.-based Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based...

The case against freight railroad reciprocal switching is alive and well based on a letter from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit libertarian think tank, to leadership at U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Pending the United States Senate confirming a “full slate” of board members appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to the United States Surface Transportation Board (STB), the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said last week that the STB should take a pause on its various planned regulatory proposals.

New regulations focused around reciprocal switching were proposed by the Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation Board (STB) yesterday.