endar year for each Class I railroad. The report shall in-
clude a description of each service complaint, including in-
formation identifying the railroad in question, the geo-
graphic area of the customer’s movements, the date upon 
which the service problem occurred, the date notice of the 
service complaint was made to the Board or any Member 
or staff of the Board, and the date of, and a detailed de-
scription of, the resolution of the complaint. The report 
shall be posted on the Board’s Internet Web site. 
(c) TIME LIMITS ON PETITIONS FOR INJUNCTIVE 
RELIEF.—Section 721(b)(4) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: ‘‘Where a complaint is filed and injunc-
tive or similar relief is sought within 20 days after the 
publication of a new or revised rail rate, rule, or practice, 
based on an allegation of unlawfulness other than an alle-
gation that a rate level is not reasonable within the mean-
ing of section 10701(d), the Board shall determine, based 
on applicable law, not later than 90 days after receiving 
the request for injunctive or similar relief, whether or not 
to grant such relief. If the moving party establishes that 
the rule or practice involved in the complaint is unlawful 
per se, there shall be a strong presumption of irreparable 
harm regardless of the availability of monetary relief. The 
Board shall not deny injunctive or similar relief based in 
whole or in part on the absence of irreparable harm due 
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to the availability of adequate monetary relief unless mon-
etary damages have been awarded to the complaining 
party.’’. 
SEC. 202. RAILROAD OBLIGATION TO SERVE. 
Section 11101(a) is amended by inserting ‘‘The 
transportation provided shall be reliable and efficient.’’ 
after ‘‘on reasonable request.’’. 
SEC. 203. RAIL CUSTOMER ADVOCATE. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Subchapter II of chapter 7 is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 728. Office of Rail Customer Advocacy 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Rail Customer Ad-
vocacy shall be an office in the Department of Transpor-
tation. 
‘‘(b) RAIL CUSTOMER ADVOCATE.—The head of the 
Office of Rail Customer Advocacy shall be the Rail Cus-
tomer Advocate, who shall be appointed in the competitive 
service by the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Agriculture. 
‘‘(c) DUTIES AND POWERS OF RAIL CUSTOMER AD-
VOCATE.—The Rail Customer Advocate shall— 
‘‘(1) accept rail customer complaints; 
‘‘(2) participate as a party in proceedings of the 
Board on petitions for action by the Board regard-
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ing the regulation of rail transportation, and may 
initiate such an action; 
‘‘(3) collect, compile, and maintain information 
regarding the cost and efficiency of rail transpor-
tation; and 
‘‘(4) carry out other duties and powers pre-
scribed by the Board. 
‘‘(d) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—To carry out the 
duties and powers under subsection (c), the Rail Customer 
Advocate shall have access to information, including data-
bases, of the Board.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 7 is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 727 the following: 
‘‘728. Office of Rail Customer Advocacy.’’. 
TITLE III—PROVIDING ACCESS 
TO 
A 
REASONABLE 
RATE 
PROCESS 
SEC. 301. RIGHTS OF RAIL CUSTOMERS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 107 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting before section 10701 
the following new section: 
‘‘§ 10700. Rights of rail customers 
‘‘Rail customers that are subject to railroad market 
dominance shall have a right of access to a process main-
tained by the Board for determining if the rate in question 
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is reasonable. The Board shall ensure that the process is 
accessible by all affected rail customers and is cost effec-
tive.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF SECTION AMENDMENT.—The table of 
section for chapter 107 of title 49, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting before the item relating to section 
10701 the following new item: 
‘‘10700. Rights of rail customers.’’. 
SEC. 302. IMPROVEMENT OF RATE REASONABLENESS 
STANDARD. 
Section 10701(d) is amended by adding the following 
new paragraphs: 
‘‘(4)(A) Not later than one year after the date of en-
actment of this paragraph, the Board shall adopt a meth-
od for determining the reasonableness of rail rates based 
on the railroad’s actual costs, including a portion of fixed 
costs and an adequate return on debt and equity. The 
method adopted shall permit a final determination within 
9 months after filing a complaint, shall ensure that nec-
essary cost and operational information is available to the 
complainant, and shall not require excessive litigation 
costs. 
‘‘(B) The Board shall not use any method for deter-
mining the reasonableness of rail rates based on the costs 
of a hypothetical competitor, except that, in any rate rea-
sonableness proceeding filed before the method required 
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under subparagraph (A) is adopted, the complaint, upon 
the election of the complainant, shall be decided based on 
applicable rate standards in effect on the date of the filing, 
including small rate guidelines. 
‘‘(C) The Board shall adopt a method under this 
paragraph that applies the ‘phasing constraint’ in its ex-
isting rail rate method so that it can be practically admin-
istered without substantial litigation-related costs in any 
proceeding involving a challenge to a rail rate in which 
the Board determines that the phasing constraint applies. 
‘‘(5) Upon receiving notification of a challenge made 
by a shipper to the reasonableness of any rate established 
by a rail carrier, the Board shall determine the reasonable-
ness of the rate without regard to— 
‘‘(A) whether the rate is for part of a movement 
between a point of origin and a destination; 
‘‘(B) whether the shipper has made arrange-
ments for transportation for any other part of that 
movement; or 
‘‘(C) any other contract the shipper has with a 
rail carrier for any part of the rail traffic involved.’’. 
SEC. 303. FILING FEES ON PETITIONS FOR CAPTIVE RATE 
RELIEF. 
Section 721 is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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