(The following appeared on the Logistics Management website on February 26.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced yesterday that it will hold a hearing on April 24, which will focus on the common carrier obligation of railroads.
In a statement, the STB defined the common carrier obligation as the “duty of railroads to provide transportation or service on reasonable request.” And it added that the hearing will aim to hone in on the importance of the common carrier obligation, provide a better understanding of it, and assist the agency in its related monitoring and compliance work.
In its notice of a public hearing for this meeting, the STB outlined various topics related to the extent of the common carrier obligation.
It said they include but are not limited to the following: service limitation resulting from a capacity constrained environment; cost and safety issues related to the transportation of hazardous materials, especially toxic inhalation standards; carrier-imposed requirements for infrastructure investments by shippers; the impact of volume requirements or incentives; economically-motivated service reductions and metering of the demand for service; the proper use of rail embargoes; when it becomes necessary to obtain abandonment authorization; and to whom does the common carrier application apply.