(b) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
March 15, 2006, and annually thereafter, the Surface 
Transportation Board shall transmit to Congress a report 
regarding the service complaints received by the Board, 
or any Member or staff of the Board, in the previous cal-
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 and nature of the reso-
lution 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 
to the availability of adequate monetary relief unless mon-
etary damages have been awarded to the complaining 
party.’’. 
SEC. 8. ARBITRATION OF RAIL DISPUTES. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 117 is amended by add-
ing the following section after section 11707: 
‘‘§ 11708. Arbitration of rail disputes 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever a dispute arises be-
tween a rail shipper and a rail carrier under this part, 
the dispute shall, on request of one party to the dispute, 
be submitted to final offer arbitration. 
‘‘(b) SELECTION OF ARBITRATORS.—The rail carrier 
or carriers that are parties to arbitration under this sec-
tion shall collectively name one arbitrator, and the rail 
shipper or shippers that are parties to the arbitration shall 
collectively name one arbitrator. The two arbitrators thus 
chosen shall select a third arbitrator from the roster of 
arbitrators established under subsection (c). If the arbitra-
tors chosen by the parties fail to name the third arbitrator 
within 5 days after their first meeting, such third arbi-
trator shall be named by the Secretary of Transportation 
from the roster of arbitrators established under subsection 
(c). 
‘‘(c) ROSTER OF ARBITRATORS.—The Secretary of 
Transportation shall establish, maintain, and revise as 
necessary a roster of arbitrators who—
‘‘(1) are experienced in transportation or eco-
nomic issues; 
‘‘(2) satisfy requirements for neutrality and 
other qualification requirements prescribed by the 
Secretary; 
‘‘(3) consent to serve as arbitrators under this 
section; and 
‘‘(4) are not officers or employees of the United 
States. 
‘‘(d) RULES
FOR ARBITRATION.—The arbitrators 
shall organize and select and make all necessary rules for 
conducting hearings. The arbitrators shall give the parties 
to the dispute a full and fair hearing, which shall include 
an opportunity to present evidence in support of their 
claims, and an opportunity to present their case in person, 
by counsel, or by other representative as they may elect. 
‘‘(e) COMPENSATION.—Each arbitrator named by ei-
ther party to the arbitration shall be compensated by the 
party naming the arbitrator. The third arbitrator chosen
under subsection (b) by both parties or named by the Sec-
retary of Transportation shall be compensated by the 
Board. The Secretary of Transportation shall fix the com-
pensation for all of the arbitrators, and the Board shall 
pay each arbitrator’s necessary traveling expenses and ex-
penses actually incurred for subsistence, while serving as 
an arbitrator. 
‘‘(f) DECISION.—The decision of the arbitrators shall 
be the final offer of one of the parties to the dispute. 
‘‘(g) REVENUE-VARIABLE COST PERCENTAGE.—The 
decision may not provide for a rate for transportation by 
a rail carrier that would result in a revenue-variable cost 
percentage of such transportation that is less than 180 
percent, as determined under standards applied in the ad-
ministration of section 10707(d). 
‘‘(h) EFFECTIVE COMPETITION STANDARD.—If the 
party requesting arbitration of a dispute under subsection 
(a) seeks compensation for damages incurred by the party 
as a result of a specific rate or charge imposed by a rail 
carrier for the transportation of goods for the party and 
the party alleges an amount of damages that does not ex-
ceed $500,000 for any year as a result of the imposition 
of the specific rate or charge, the arbitrators, in making 
an award on the dispute, shall consider the rates or 
charges that are imposed by rail carriers for the transpor-
tation of similar goods under similar circumstances in rail 
transportation markets where there is effective competi-
tion, as determined under standards applied by the Board 
in the administration of section 10707(a). 
‘‘(i) COPIES OF AWARD.—The arbitrators shall fur-
nish a certified copy of its award to the parties to the 
dispute, and shall transmit the original, together with the 
paper and proceedings and a transcript of the evidence 
taken at the hearings, certified under the hands of at least 
a majority of the arbitrators, to the Board, to be filed in 
its office. 
‘‘(j) ASSISTANTS.—The arbitrators may employ and 
fix the compensation of such assistants as it considers nec-
essary in carrying on the arbitration proceedings. The 
compensation of such assistants, together with their nec-
essary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred 
for subsistence, while so employed, and the necessary ex-
penses of the arbitration panel, shall be paid by the Board. 
‘‘(k) OATHS; SUBPOENAS.—All testimony before ar-
bitrators under this section shall be given under oath or 
affirmation, and any arbitrator shall have the power to 
administer oaths or affirmations. The arbitrators shall 
have the power to require the attendance of witnesses and 
the production of such books, papers, contracts, agree-
ments, and documents as may be necessary to a just deter-
mination of the matters submitted to arbitration, and may 
request the district court of the United States for the dis-
trict where the arbitration is being conducted to issue the 
necessary subpoenas. Any witness appearing before arbi-
trators under this section shall receive the same fees and 
mileage reimbursement as witnesses in courts of the 
United States, to be paid by the party securing the sub-
poena, or in the case of a subpoena secured by the arbitra-
tors, to be paid by the Board. 
‘‘(l) TIME FOR ISSUANCE OF ARBITRATION DECI-
SION.—The arbitration panel shall issue a final decision 
on a dispute under this section not later than 180 days 
after the date on which the panel of arbitrators is com-
pleted to resolve the dispute. 
‘‘(m) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall issue final regulations establishing 
procedures for the resolution of disputes submitted for ar-
bitration, in accordance with the requirements of this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(n) APPLICABILITY
OF TITLE 9.—The following 
provisions of title 9, United States Code, shall apply to 
an arbitration decision issued in a dispute under this sec-
tion:
‘‘(1) Section 9 (relating to confirmation of an 
award in an arbitration decision), which shall be ap-
plied as if the parties had entered into an agreement 
under title 9 to submit the dispute to the arbitration 
and had provided in that agreement for a judgement 
of an unspecified court to be entered on the award 
made pursuant to the arbitration. 
‘‘(2) Sections 10 and 11 (relating to judicial va-
cation, modification, or correction of an award in an 
arbitration decision).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 11707 the following:
‘‘11708. Arbitration of rail disputes.’’.
SEC. 9. FILING FEES ON PETITIONS FOR CAPTIVE RATE RE-
LIEF. 
Section 721 is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(f) LIMITATION ON FEES.—The Board may not 
charge a fee for the filing of a complaint, protest, or other 
request for relief in an amount greater than fees charged 
by district courts of the United States for a comparable 
filing.’’.
SEC. 
10. 
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 of 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 
necessary 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 
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 a challenge made by a shipper to the rea-
sonableness of any rate established by a rail carrier, the 
Board shall determine the reasonableness of the rate with-
out 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. 11. 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-
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.’’.
SEC. 12. STUDY OF RAIL TRANSPORTATION COMPETITION. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 9 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans-
portation shall enter into an arrangement with the Na-
tional Academy of Science’s Transportation Research 
Board to conduct a comprehensive study of rail carrier
competition since the enactment of the Staggers Rail Act 
of 1980. The study shall include an assessment of—
(1) the overall level of rail-to-rail competition in 
the rail transportation industry of the United States; 
(2) the markets that have limited rail-to-rail 
competition; and 
(3) the Board’s ability to measure and balance 
the railroads’ need to earn a fair return on invested 
capital with the captive shippers’ need for fair and 
reasonable rates. 
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
transmit the results of the study conducted under sub-
section (a) to Congress. The report shall include the 
Transportation Research Board’s recommendations for 
enhancing rail-to-rail competition, particularly in markets 
identified as having limited rail-to-rail competition. 
SEC. 13. EFFECT OF MERGERS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES 
AND RAIL PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION. 
Section 11324 is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (4); 
(B) by striking the period at the end of 
paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(6) the safety and environmental effects of the 
proposed transaction, including the effect on local 
communities, and the public interest in enforcing 
Federal, State, and local safety and environmental 
laws; and 
‘‘(7) the effect of the proposed transaction on 
rail passenger transportation.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘The Board 
shall impose conditions under this subsection to 
mitigate the effects of the transaction on local com-
munities when such conditions are in the public in-
terest. In imposing such conditions, the Board shall 
consider the effect of those conditions on local com-
munities, and shall consider the public interest in 
the enforcement of Federal, State, and local safety 
and environmental laws.’’ after ‘‘effects are allevi-
ated.’’. 
SEC. 14. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 705 is amended by striking paragraphs (1) 
through (3) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) $24,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 
‘‘(2) $26,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and
‘‘(3) $28,000,000 for fiscal year 2008.’’.
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