(The Surface Transportation Board issued the following news release on March 14.)
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board announced today that the agency will hold a public hearing on the subject of fuel surcharges collected by railroads beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2006, in Room 760, the agency’s hearing room, on the 7th Floor of the agency’s headquarters in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
The agency will hold the hearing to provide a forum for the expression of views by rail shippers, railroads, and other interested persons, on the manner in which fuel surcharges are calculated and charged by railroads. The cost of fuel is a significant component of the operating costs of providing rail service, and railroads can reasonably be expected to devise methods to collect increases in those costs from their shippers. However, the rail shipper community has voiced concerns that recent fuel surcharges collected by railroads are designed to recover amounts over and above increased fuel costs.