I

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2192

To authorize appropriations for the Surface Transportation Board, to enhance

railroad competition, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 21, 2003

Mr. OBERSTAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the Surface Transportation

Board, to enhance railroad competition, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Surface Transpor5 tation Board Reform Act of 2003’’.

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Sec. 1. Short title.

Sec. 2. Table of contents.

TITLE I—RAILROAD COMPETITION

Sec. 101. Clarification of rail transportation policy.

Sec. 102. Fostering rail to rail competition.

Sec. 103. Simplified relief process for small captive grain shippers.
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Sec. 104. Competitive rail service in terminal areas.

Sec. 105. Simplified standards for market dominance.

Sec. 106. Revenue adequacy determinations.

Sec. 107. Rail carrier service quality performance reports.

TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 201. Effect of mergers on local communities and rail passenger transportation.

Sec. 202. Use of facilities by commuter authorities.

Sec. 203. Side tracks.

Sec. 204. Public availability of water carrier tariffs.

TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations.

1 TITLE I—RAILROAD

2 COMPETITION

3 SEC. 101. CLARIFICATION OF RAIL TRANSPORTATION POL4 ICY.

5 Section 10101 of title 49, United States Code, is

6 amended—

7 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before

8 ‘‘In regulating’’; and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(b) PRIMARY OBJECTIVES.—The primary objectives

11 of the rail transportation policy of the United States shall

12 be—

13 ‘‘(1) to ensure effective competition among rail

14 carriers at origin and destination;

15 ‘‘(2) to maintain reasonable rates in the ab16 sence of effective competition;

17 ‘‘(3) to maintain consistent and efficient rail

18 transportation service to shippers, including the
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1 timely provision of railcars requested by shippers;

2 and

3 ‘‘(4) to ensure that smaller carload and inter4 modal shippers are not precluded from accessing rail

5 systems due to volume requirements.’’.

6 SEC. 102. FOSTERING RAIL TO RAIL COMPETITION.

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF RATE.—Section 11101(a) of

8 title 49, United States Code, is amended by inserting after

9 the first sentence the following: ‘‘Upon the request of a

10 shipper, a rail carrier shall establish a rate for transpor11 tation and provide service requested by the shipper be12 tween any two points on the system of that carrier where

13 traffic originates, terminates, or may reasonably be inter14 changed. A carrier shall establish a rate and provide serv15 ice upon such request without regard to—

16 ‘‘(1) whether the rate established is for only

17 part of a movement between an origin and a destina18 tion;

19 ‘‘(2) whether the shipper has made arrange20 ments for transportation for any other part of that

21 movement; or

22 ‘‘(3) whether the shipper currently has a con23 tract with any rail carrier for part or all of its trans24 portation needs over the route of movement.
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1 If such a contract exists, the rate established by the car2 rier shall not apply to transportation covered by the con3 tract.’’.

4 (b) REVIEW OF REASONABLENESS OF RATES.—Sec5 tion 10701(d) of title 49, United States Code, is

6 amended—

7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para8 graph (4); and

9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(3) A shipper may challenge the reasonableness of

12 any rate established by a rail carrier in accordance with

13 section 11101(a) or with subsection (c) of this section.

14 The Board shall determine the reasonableness of the rate

15 so challenged without regard to—

16 ‘‘(A) whether the rate established is for only

17 part of a movement between an origin and a destina18 tion;

19 ‘‘(B) whether the shipper has made arrange20 ments for transportation for any other part of that

21 movement; or

22 ‘‘(C) whether the shipper currently has a con23 tract with a rail carrier for any part of the rail traf24 fic at issue, provided that the rate prescribed by the
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1 Board shall not apply to transportation covered by

2 such a contract.’’.

3 SEC. 103. SIMPLIFIED RELIEF PROCESS FOR SMALL CAP4 TIVE GRAIN SHIPPERS.

5 (a) LIMITATION ON FEES.—Notwithstanding any

6 other provision of law, the Surface Transportation Board

7 shall not impose fees in excess of $1,000 for services col8 lected from an eligible facility in connection with rail max9 imum rate complaints under part 1002 of title 49, Code

10 of Federal Regulations.

11 (b) SIMPLIFIED RATE AND SERVICE RELIEF.—Sec12 tion 10701 of title 49, United States Code, is amended

13 by adding at the end thereof the following:

14 ‘‘(e) SIMPLIFIED RATES AND SERVICES.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

16 provision of law, a rail carrier may not charge a rate

17 for shipments from or to an eligible facility which re18 sults in a revenue-to-variable cost percentage, using

19 system average costs, for the transportation service

20 to which the rate applies that is greater than 180

21 percent.

22 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTS.—Notwith23 standing any other provision of law, a rail carrier

24 shall accept all requests for grain service from an el25 igible facility up to a maximum of 110 percent of
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1 the grain carloads shipped from or to the facility in

2 the immediately preceding calendar year. If, in a

3 majority of instances, a rail carrier does not in any

4 45-day period, supply the number of grain cars so

5 ordered by an eligible facility or does not initiate

6 service within 30 days of the reasonably specified

7 loading date, the eligible facility may request that an

8 alternative rail carrier provide the service using the

9 tracks of the original carrier. If the alternative rail

10 carrier agrees to provide such service, and such serv11 ice can be provided without substantially impairing

12 the ability of the carrier whose tracks reach the fa13 cility to use such tracks to handle its own business,

14 the Board shall order the alternative carrier to com15 mence service and to compensate the other carrier

16 for the use of its tracks. The alternative carrier shall

17 provide reasonable compensation to the original car18 rier for the use of the original carrier’s tracks.

19 ‘‘(3) CANCELLATION PENALTIES.—A carrier

20 may accept car orders under paragraph (2) subject

21 to reasonable penalties for service requests that are

22 canceled by the requester. If the carrier fills such or23 ders more than 15 days after the reasonably speci24 fied loading date, the carrier may not assess a pen25 alty for canceled car orders.
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1 ‘‘(4) DAMAGES.—A rail carrier that fails to

2 provide service under the requirements of paragraph

3 (2) is liable for damages to an eligible facility that

4 does not have access to an alternative carrier, in5 cluding lost profits, attorney’s fees, and any other

6 consequences attributable to the carrier’s failure to

7 provide the ordered service. A claim for such damage

8 may be brought in an appropriate United States

9 District Court or before the Board.

10 ‘‘(5) TIMETABLE FOR BOARD PROCEEDING.—

11 The Board shall conclude any proceeding brought

12 under this subsection no later than 180 days from

13 the date a complaint is filed.

14 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

15 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE FACILITY.—The term ‘eli16 gible facility’ means a shipper facility that—

17 ‘‘(i) is the origin or destination for not

18 more than 4,000 carloads annually of

19 grain as defined in section 3(g) of the

20 United States Grain Standards Act (7

21 U.S.C. 75(g));

22 ‘‘(ii) is served by a single rail carrier

23 at its origin;

24 ‘‘(iii) has more than 60 percent of the

25 facility’s inbound or outbound grain and
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1 grain product shipments (excluding the de2 livery of grain to the facility by producers),

3 measured by weight or bushels moved via

4 a rail carrier in the immediately preceding

5 calendar year; and

6 ‘‘(iv) the rate charged by the rail car7 rier for the majority of shipments of grain

8 and grain products from or to the facility,

9 excluding premium for special service pro10 grams, results in a revenue-to-variable cost

11 percentage, using system average costs, for

12 the transportation to which the rate ap13 plies that is equal to or greater than 180

14 percent.

15 ‘‘(B) REASONABLE COMPENSATION.—The

16 term ‘reasonable compensation’ shall mean an

17 amount no greater than the total shared costs

18 of the original carrier and the alternative car19 rier incurred, on a usage basis, for the provision

20 of service to an eligible facility. If the carriers

21 are unable to agree on compensation terms

22 within 15 days after the facility requests service

23 from the alternative carrier, the alternative car24 rier or the eligible facility may request the

25 Board to establish the compensation and the
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1 Board shall establish the compensation within

2 45 days after such request is made.

3 ‘‘(C) ORIGINAL CARRIER.—The term

4 ‘original carrier’ means a rail carrier which pro5 vides the only rail service to an eligible facility

6 using its own tracks or provides such service

7 over an exclusive lease of the tracks serving the

8 eligible facility.

9 ‘‘(D) ALTERNATIVE CARRIER.—The term

10 ‘alternative carrier’ means a rail carrier that is

11 not an original carrier to an eligible facility.’’.

12 SEC. 104. COMPETITIVE RAIL SERVICE IN TERMINAL

13 AREAS.

14 (a) TRACKAGE RIGHTS.—Section 11102(a) of title

15 49, United States Code, is amended—

16 (1) by striking ‘‘may’’ in the first sentence and

17 inserting ‘‘shall’’;

18 (2) by inserting after ‘‘business.’’ the following:

19 ‘‘In making this determination, the Board shall not

20 require evidence of anticompetitive conduct by the

21 rail carrier from which access is sought.’’; and

22 (3) by striking ‘‘may’’ in the next-to-last sen23 tence and inserting ‘‘shall’’.

24 (b) RECIPROCAL SWITCHING.—Section 11102(c)(1)

25 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘may’’ in the first sentence and

2 inserting ‘‘shall’’;

3 (2) by inserting after ‘‘service.’’ the following:

4 ‘‘In making this determination, the Board shall not

5 require evidence of anticompetitive conduct by the

6 rail carrier from which access is sought.’’; and

7 (3) by striking ‘‘may’’ in the last sentence and

8 inserting ‘‘shall’’.

9 SEC. 105. SIMPLIFIED STANDARDS FOR MARKET DOMI10 NANCE.

11 Section 10707(d)(1)(A) of title 49, United States

12 Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol13 lowing: ‘‘The Board shall not consider evidence of product

14 or geographic competition in making a market dominance

15 determination under this section.’’.

16 SEC. 106. REVENUE ADEQUACY DETERMINATIONS.

17 (a) RAIL TRANSPORTATION POLICY.—Section

18 10101(a)(3) of title 49, United States Code (as so redesig19 nated by section 101 of this Act), is amended by striking

20 ‘‘revenues, as determined by the Board;’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘revenues;’’.

22 (b) STANDARDS FOR RATES.—Section 10701(d)(2)

23 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking

24 ‘‘revenues, as established by the Board under section

25 10704(a)(2) of this title’’ and inserting ‘‘revenues’’.
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1 (c) REVENUE ADEQUACY DETERMINATIONS.—Sec2 tion 10704(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)’’;

5 and

6 (2) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3).

7 SEC. 107. RAIL CARRIER SERVICE QUALITY PERFORMANCE

8 REPORTS.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of subtitle I of title 49,

10 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

11 thereof the following:

12 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PERFORMANCE REPORTS

13 ‘‘§ 541. Rail carrier service quality performance re14 ports

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation

16 shall require, by regulation, each rail carrier to submit a

17 monthly report to the Secretary, in such uniform format

18 as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe, containing

19 information about—

20 ‘‘(1) its on-time performance;

21 ‘‘(2) its car availability deadline performance;

22 ‘‘(3) its average train speed;

23 ‘‘(4) its average terminal dwell time;

24 ‘‘(5) the number of its cars loaded (by major

25 commodity group); and
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1 ‘‘(6) such other aspects of its performance as a

2 rail carrier as the Secretary may require.

3 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION FURNISHED TO STB; THE PUB4 LIC.—The Secretary shall furnish a copy of each report

5 required under subsection (a) to the Surface Transpor6 tation Board no later than the next business day following

7 its receipt by the Secretary, and shall make each such re8 port available to the public.

9 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—The Sec10 retary shall transmit to the Congress an annual report

11 based upon information received by the Secretary under

12 this section.

13 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the definitions

14 in section 10102 apply.’’.

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal16 ysis for chapter 5 of subtitle I of title 49, United States

17 Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol18 lowing:

‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PERFORMANCE REPORTS

‘‘541. Rail carrier service quality performance reports.’’.

19 TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS

20 SEC. 201. EFFECT OF MERGERS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES

21 AND RAIL PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION.

22 Section 11324 of title 49, United States Code, is

23 amended—

24 (1) in subsection (b)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para2 graph (4);

3 (B) by striking the period at the end of

4 paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and

5 (C) by adding at the end the following new

6 paragraphs:

7 ‘‘(6) the safety and environmental effects of the

8 proposed transaction, including the effect on local

9 communities, and the public interest in enforcing

10 Federal, State, and local safety and environmental

11 laws; and

12 ‘‘(7) the effect of the proposed transaction on

13 rail passenger transportation.’’; and

14 (2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘The Board

15 shall impose conditions under this subsection to

16 mitigate the effects of the transaction on local com17 munities when such conditions are in the public in18 terest. In imposing such conditions, the Board shall

19 consider the effect of those conditions on local com20 munities, and shall consider the public interest in

21 the enforcement of Federal, State, and local safety

22 and environmental laws.’’ after ‘‘effects are allevi23 ated.’’.
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1 SEC. 202. USE OF FACILITIES BY COMMUTER AUTHORITIES.

2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 241 of title 49, United

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new section:

5 ‘‘§ 24105. Use of facilities by commuter authorities

6 ‘‘A commuter authority may make an agreement with

7 a rail carrier or regional transportation authority to use

8 facilities of, and have services provided by, the carrier or

9 authority in the same manner and under the same condi10 tions as may Amtrak under section 24308. In carrying

11 out this section, the Board shall ensure that commuter

12 authorities are able to provide commuter rail passenger

13 transportation that develops the potential of modern rail

14 transportation to meet the commuter rail passenger trans15 portation needs of the United States.’’.

16 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for

17 such chapter 241 is amended by adding at the end the

18 following new item:

‘‘24105. Use of facilities by commuter authorities.’’.

19 SEC. 203. SIDE TRACKS.

20 Section 10906 of title 49, United States Code, and

21 the item relating thereto in the table of sections of chapter

22 109 of that title, are repealed.
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1 SEC. 204. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF WATER CARRIER TAR2 IFFS.

3 Section 13702(b) of title 49, United States Code, is

4 amended—

5 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol6 lows:

7 ‘‘(1) TARIFF AVAILABILITY.—A carrier pro8 viding transportation or service described in sub9 section (a)(1) shall make its tariffs available elec10 tronically to any person, without time, quantity, or

11 other limitation, through appropriate access from re12 mote locations, and a reasonable charge may be as13 sessed for such access. No charge may be assessed

14 a Federal agency for such access.’’;

15 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘tariff filings’’

16 and inserting ‘‘tariffs’’;

17 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘filed under

18 this subsection’’; and

19 (4) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘filing com20 plete tariffs under this subsection’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘changing their complete electronic tariffs’’.
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1 TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF

2 APPROPRIATIONS

3 SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 Section 705 of title 49, United States Code, is

5 amended by striking paragraphs (1) through (3) and in6 serting the following:

7 ‘‘(1) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;

8 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and

9 ‘‘(3) $27,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.’’.

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