For a shipper waiting for rail cars, a general assurance about service leaves a basic question unanswered: what kind of delay is occurring? The Surface Transportation Board’s rule published December 5, 2016, and examined in this December 6 retrospective, establishes permanent service-performance reporting for Class I railroads and the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office through its Class I members. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The May 5 supplemental proposal shows why the details matter. Its draft grain-car metric distinguished overdue orders, days late, newly received and filled orders, and cancellations by shippers versus railroads. Those categories describe different problems for someone arranging a shipment. They were proposed measurements, however, not a final guarantee that every carrier would report that exact list. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The final rule instead specifies running grain-order totals and overdue categories for covered manifest-service cars. It also permits Kansas City Southern to provide system-wide rather than state-level grain information. Reading those limits alongside the proposal prevents a misleading promise that each shipper will receive the same local picture. The two documents describe one Board rulemaking, not independent evidence of better service. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The rule set January 29, 2017 effectiveness and February 8 for initial reporting. Weekly submissions coexist with monthly data and semiannual or occasional requirements; reporting railroads must explain their methods and disclose changes. That can make a complaint more precise, but publication alone cannot move a car. The public-interest test is whether the information becomes useful for identifying problems, not whether a reporting requirement can be described as a service improvement. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

Source documents

  1. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-05/html/2016-29131.htm
  2. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-05-05/html/2016-10442.htm