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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 141

To authorize appropriations for the Surface Transportation Board, to enhance

railroad competition, to protect collective bargaining agreements, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

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, to protect collective bargaining agreements, 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 2001’’.

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.
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Sec. 103. Simplified relief process for small captive grain shippers.

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—PROTECTION OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

AGREEMENTS

Sec. 201. Scope of authority.

Sec. 202. Employee protection.

TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 301. Effect of mergers on local communities and rail passenger transportation.

Sec. 302. Use of facilities by commuter authorities.

Sec. 303. Side tracks.

Sec. 304. Public availability of water carrier tariffs.

TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

Sec. 401. 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;
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1 ‘‘(2) to maintain reasonable rates in the ab2 sence of effective competition;

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

4 transportation service to shippers, including the

5 timely provision of railcars requested by shippers;

6 and

7 ‘‘(4) to ensure that smaller carload and inter8 modal shippers are not precluded from accessing rail

9 systems due to volume requirements.’’.

10 SEC. 102. FOSTERING RAIL TO RAIL COMPETITION.

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

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

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

14 shipper, a rail carrier shall establish a rate for transpor15 tation and provide service requested by the shipper be16 tween any two points on the system of that carrier where

17 traffic originates, terminates, or may reasonably be inter18 changed. A carrier shall establish a rate and provide serv19 ice upon such request without regard to—

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

21 part of a movement between an origin and a destina22 tion;

23 ‘‘(2) whether the shipper has made arrange24 ments for transportation for any other part of that

25 movement; or
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1 ‘‘(3) whether the shipper currently has a con2 tract with any rail carrier for part or all of its trans3 portation needs over the route of movement.

4 ‘‘If such a contract exists, the rate established by the car5 rier shall not apply to transportation covered by the con6 tract.’’.

7 (b) REVIEW OF REASONABLENESS OF RATES.—Sec8 tion 10701(d) of title 49, United States Code, is

9 amended—

10 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para11 graph (4); and

12 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol13 lowing:

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

15 any rate established by a rail carrier in accordance with

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

17 The Board shall determine the reasonableness of the rate

18 so challenged without regard to—

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

20 part of a movement between an origin and a destina21 tion;

22 ‘‘(B) whether the shipper has made arrange23 ments for transportation for any other part of that

24 movement; or
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1 ‘‘(C) whether the shipper currently has a con2 tract with a rail carrier for any part of the rail traf3 fic at issue, provided that the rate prescribed by the

4 Board shall not apply to transportation covered by

5 such a contract.’’.

6 SEC. 103. SIMPLIFIED RELIEF PROCESS FOR SMALL CAP7 TIVE GRAIN SHIPPERS.

8 (a) LIMITATION ON FEES.—Notwithstanding any

9 other provision of law, the Surface Transportation Board

10 shall not impose fees in excess of $1,000 for services col11 lected from an eligible facility in connection with rail max12 imum rate complaints under part 1002 of title 49, Code

13 of Federal Regulations.

14 (b) SIMPLIFIED RATE AND SERVICE RELIEF.—Sec15 tion 10701 of title 49, United States Code, is amended

16 by adding at the end thereof the following:

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

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

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

20 for shipments from or to an eligible facility which

21 results in a revenue-to-variable cost percentage,

22 using system average costs, for the transportation

23 service to which the rate applies that is greater than

24 180 percent.
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1 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTS.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of law, a rail carrier

3 shall accept all requests for grain service from an el4 igible facility up to a maximum of 110 percent of

5 the grain carloads shipped from or to the facility in

6 the immediately preceding calendar year. If, in a

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

8 45-day period, supply the number of grain cars so

9 ordered by an eligible facility or does not initiate

10 service within 30 days of the reasonably specified

11 loading date, the eligible facility may request that an

12 alternative rail carrier provide the service using the

13 tracks of the original carrier. If the alternative rail

14 carrier agrees to provide such service, and such serv15 ice can be provided without substantially impairing

16 the ability of the carrier whose tracks reach the fa17 cility to use such tracks to handle its own business,

18 the Board shall order the alternative carrier to com19 mence service and to compensate the other carrier

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

21 provide reasonable compensation to the original car22 rier for the use of the original carrier’s tracks.

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

24 may accept car orders under paragraph (2) subject

25 to reasonable penalties for service requests that are
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1 canceled by the requester. If the carrier fills such or2 ders more than 15 days after the reasonably speci3 fied loading date, the carrier may not assess a pen4 alty for canceled car orders.

5 ‘‘(4) DAMAGES.—A rail carrier that fails to

6 provide service under the requirements of paragraph

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

8 does not have access to an alternative carrier, in9 cluding lost profits, attorney’s fees, and any other

10 consequences attributable to the carrier’s failure to

11 provide the ordered service. A claim for such damage

12 may be brought in an appropriate United States

13 District Court or before the Board.

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

15 The Board shall conclude any proceeding brought

16 under this subsection no later than 180 days from

17 the date a complaint is filed.

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

19 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE FACILITY.—The term ‘eli20 gible facility’ means a shipper facility that—

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

22 more than 4,000 carloads annually of

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

24 United States Grain Standards Act (7

25 U.S.C. 75(g));
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1 ‘‘(ii) is served by a single rail carrier

2 at its origin;

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

4 facility’s inbound or outbound grain and

5 grain product shipments (excluding the de6 livery of grain to the facility by producers),

7 measured by weight or bushels moved via

8 a rail carrier in the immediately preceding

9 calendar year; and

10 ‘‘(iv) the rate charged by the rail car11 rier for the majority of shipments of grain

12 and grain products from or to the facility,

13 excluding premium for special service pro14 grams, results in a revenue-to-variable cost

15 percentage, using system average costs, for

16 the transportation to which the rate ap17 plies that is equal to or greater than 180

18 percent.

19 ‘‘(B) REASONABLE COMPENSATION.—The

20 term ‘reasonable compensation’ shall mean an

21 amount no greater than the total shared costs

22 of the original carrier and the alternative car23 rier incurred, on a usage basis, for the provision

24 of service to an eligible facility. If the carriers

25 are unable to agree on compensation terms
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1 within 15 days after the facility requests service

2 from the alternative carrier, the alternative car3 rier or the eligible facility may request the

4 Board to establish the compensation and the

5 Board shall establish the compensation within

6 45 days after such request is made.

7 ‘‘(C) ORIGINAL CARRIER.—The term

8 ‘original carrier’ means a rail carrier which pro9 vides the only rail service to an eligible facility

10 using its own tracks or provides such service

11 over an exclusive lease of the tracks serving the

12 eligible facility.

13 ‘‘(D) ALTERNATIVE CARRIER.—The term

14 ‘alternative carrier’ means a rail carrier that is

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

16 SEC. 104. COMPETITIVE RAIL SERVICE IN TERMINAL

17 AREAS.

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

19 49, United States Code, is amended—

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

21 inserting ‘‘shall’’;

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

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

24 require evidence of anticompetitive conduct by the

25 rail carrier from which access is sought.’’; and
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1 (3) by striking ‘‘may’’ in the next-to-last sen2 tence and inserting ‘‘shall’’.

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

4 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

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

6 inserting ‘‘shall’’;

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

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

9 require evidence of anticompetitive conduct by the

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

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

12 inserting ‘‘shall’’.

13 SEC. 105. SIMPLIFIED STANDARDS FOR MARKET DOMI14 NANCE.

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

16 Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol17 lowing: ‘‘The Board shall not consider evidence of product

18 or geographic competition in making a market dominance

19 determination under this section.’’.

20 SEC. 106. REVENUE ADEQUACY DETERMINATIONS.

21 (a) RAIL TRANSPORTATION POLICY.—Section

22 10101(a)(3) of title 49, United States Code (as so redesig23 nated by section 101 of this Act), is amended by striking

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

25 ‘‘revenues;’’.
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1 (b) STANDARDS FOR RATES.—Section 10701(d)(2)

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

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

4 10704(a)(2) of this title’’ and inserting ‘‘revenues’’.

5 (c) REVENUE ADEQUACY DETERMINATIONS.—Sec6 tion 10704(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

7 amended—

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

9 and

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

11 SEC. 107. RAIL CARRIER SERVICE QUALITY PERFORMANCE

12 REPORTS.

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

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

15 thereof the following:

16 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PERFORMANCE REPORTS

17 ‘‘§ 541. Rail carrier service quality performance re18 ports

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

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

21 monthly report to the Secretary, in such uniform format

22 as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe, containing

23 information about—

24 ‘‘(1) its on-time performance;

25 ‘‘(2) its car availability deadline performance;
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1 ‘‘(3) its average train speed;

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

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

4 commodity group); and

5 ‘‘(6) such other aspects of its performance as a

6 rail carrier as the Secretary may require.

7 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION FURNISHED TO STB; THE PUB8 LIC.—The Secretary shall furnish a copy of each report

9 required under subsection (a) to the Surface Transpor10 tation Board no later than the next business day following

11 its receipt by the Secretary, and shall make each such re12 port available to the public.

13 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—The Sec14 retary shall transmit to the Congress an annual report

15 based upon information received by the Secretary under

16 this section.

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

18 in section 10102 apply.’’.

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal20 ysis for chapter 5 of subtitle I of title 49, United States

21 Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol22 lowing:

‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PERFORMANCE REPORTS

‘‘541. Rail carrier service quality performance reports.’’.
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1 TITLE II—PROTECTION OF

2 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

3 AGREEMENTS

4 SEC. 201. SCOPE OF AUTHORITY.

5 Section 11321 of title 49, United States Code, is

6 amended—

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘all other law’’

8 and all that follows through ‘‘acquired through the

9 transaction’’ and inserting ‘‘State and local laws to

10 the extent they regulate combinations, mergers, and

11 acquisitions of control of rail carriers, as necessary

12 to let that rail carrier, corporation, or person carry

13 out the transaction’’; and

14 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub15 section:

16 ‘‘(c) After a transaction approved or exempted by the

17 Board under this subchapter (or by the Interstate Com18 merce Commission under this subchapter or any prede19 cessor statute) is completed, the activities of a rail carrier

20 participating in or resulting from such transaction shall

21 be subject to State and Federal law to the same extent

22 as those of any other similarly situated rail carrier that

23 has not participated in or resulted from such a trans24 action. Completion of a transaction for purposes of this

25 section shall be deemed to occur 1 year after the acquiring
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1 rail carrier assumes responsibility for the property trans2 ferred.’’.

3 SEC. 202. EMPLOYEE PROTECTION.

4 Section 11326 of title 49, United States Code, is

5 amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the fol6 lowing:

7 ‘‘(a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section,

8 when approval is sought for a transaction under sections

9 11324 and 11325, the Board shall require the rail carrier

10 to provide a fair arrangement at least as protective of the

11 interests of employees who are affected by the transaction

12 as the terms imposed under section 11347 of this title,

13 as in effect on the day before December 29, 1995.

14 ‘‘(2) The arrangement and the order approving a

15 transaction referred to in paragraph (1) shall be subject

16 to the following conditions:

17 ‘‘(A) The employees of the affected rail carrier

18 shall not be in a worse position related to their em19 ployment as a result of the transaction during the

20 6-year period beginning on the date on which the

21 employee is adversely affected by an action taken by

22 the affected rail carrier as a result of the transaction

23 (or if an employee was employed for a lesser period

24 of time by the rail carrier before the action became

25 effective, for that lesser period).
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1 ‘‘(B)(i) The rail carrier and the authorized rep2 resentatives of the rail carrier’s employees shall ne3 gotiate under the Railway Labor Act any arrange4 ment regarding the selection of forces or assignment

5 of employees caused by the Board’s order of ap6 proval under sections 11324 or 11325.

7 ‘‘(ii) Arbitration of the proposed arrangement

8 may only occur if both parties agree to that process.

9 ‘‘(iii) The Board shall not intervene in the ne10 gotiations or arbitration under this subparagraph

11 unless requested to do so by both parties involved.

12 ‘‘(iv) The Board shall not, under any cir13 cumstances, have the authority under this title to—

14 ‘‘(I) break, modify, alter, override, or abro15 gate, in whole or in part, any provision in any

16 collective bargaining agreement or imple17 menting agreement made between a rail carrier

18 and the authorized representatives of its em19 ployees under the Railway Labor Act; or

20 ‘‘(II) provide the authority described in

21 subclause (I) to any other person.

22 ‘‘(3) Beginning on the date of the enactment of the

23 Surface Transportation Board Reform Act of 2001, this

24 subsection shall apply to any transaction proposed by a

25 rail carrier under conditions previously imposed by the
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1 former Interstate Commerce Commission or the Surface

2 Transportation Board under—

3 ‘‘(A) section 5(2)(f) of the Interstate Commerce

4 Commission Act before October 1, 1978;

5 ‘‘(B) section 11347 of this title, before Decem6 ber 29, 1995; or

7 ‘‘(C) this section.’’.

8 TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS

9 SEC. 301. EFFECT OF MERGERS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES

10 AND RAIL PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION.

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

12 amended—

13 (1) in subsection (b)—

14 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para15 graph (4);

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

17 paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and

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

19 paragraphs:

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

21 proposed transaction, including the effect on local

22 communities, and the public interest in enforcing

23 Federal, State, and local safety and environmental

24 laws; and
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1 ‘‘(7) the effect of the proposed transaction on

2 rail passenger transportation.’’; and

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

4 shall impose conditions under this subsection to

5 mitigate the effects of the transaction on local com6 munities when such conditions are in the public in7 terest. In imposing such conditions, the Board shall

8 consider the effect of those conditions on local com9 munities, and shall consider the public interest in

10 the enforcement of Federal, State, and local safety

11 and environmental laws.’’ after ‘‘effects are allevi12 ated.’’.

13 SEC. 302. USE OF FACILITIES BY COMMUTER AUTHORITIES.

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

15 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new section:

17 ‘‘§ 24105. Use of facilities by commuter authorities

18 ‘‘A commuter authority may make an agreement with

19 a rail carrier or regional transportation authority to use

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

21 authority in the same manner and under the same condi22 tions as may Amtrak under section 24308. In carrying

23 out this section, the Board shall ensure that commuter

24 authorities are able to provide commuter rail passenger

25 transportation that develops the potential of modern rail
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1 transportation to meet the commuter rail passenger trans2 portation needs of the United States.’’.

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

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

5 following new item:

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

6 SEC. 303. SIDE TRACKS.

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

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

9 109 of that title, are repealed.

10 SEC. 304. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF WATER CARRIER TAR11 IFFS.

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

13 amended—

14 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol15 lows:

16 ‘‘(1) TARIFF AVAILABILITY.—A carrier pro17 viding transportation or service described in sub18 section (a)(1) shall make its tariffs available elec19 tronically to any person, without time, quantity, or

20 other limitation, through appropriate access from re21 mote locations, and a reasonable charge may be as22 sessed for such access. No charge may be assessed

23 a Federal agency for such access.’’;

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

25 and inserting ‘‘tariffs’’;
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1 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘filed under

2 this subsection’’; and

3 (4) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘filing com4 plete tariffs under this subsection’’ and inserting

5 ‘‘changing their complete electronic tariffs’’.

6 TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF

7 APPROPRIATIONS

8 SEC. 401. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

10 amended by striking paragraphs (1) through (3) and in11 serting the following:

12 ‘‘(1) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;

13 ‘‘(2) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; and

14 ‘‘(3) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.’’.

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