STB issues final decision on small and medium sized freight rail disputes

Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/6/2007

WASHINGTON—Earlier this week, the Surface Transportation Board issued a final decision to create new procedures so that “small- and medium-sized freight rail disputes can be resolved in a simplified, expedited and affordable manner.”

The STB said in a statement that this decision will allow small freight rail shippers to obtain an award of up to $1 million in relief within eight months of filing a complaint.

And it added that this filing fee for the simplified “Three Benchmark” process is $150. This decision, noted the STB, also creates a separate new rate dispute resolution process for rate disputes having to do with mid-sized rail shipments

Following this alternative “Simplified Stand Alone Cost” process, rail shippers can also obtain an award of up to $5 million in relief within 17 months of filing a complaint, said the STB.

"These two new dispute resolution procedures open our doors to the more than 70% of rail traffic that until now has been effectively blocked from Board review due to the complexity and resulting high costs of the Board' previous procedures,” said STB Chairman Charles D. Nottingham in a statement. “This decision marks a major step forward in the Board's ongoing efforts to deliver meaningful reforms aimed at making the
STB more accessible, transparent, and efficient."