The Surface Transportation Board announced Wednesday, April 2, 2014 that it is seeking written comments from the public in advance of a future public hearing "to explore both the Board's methodology for determining railroad revenue adequacy and the revenue adequacy component used by the Board in judging the reasonableness of rail freight rates."
STB says it is "statutorily required to annually determine which railroads are revenue adequate. Since standards were established in 1981, the Board has made adjustments to its methodology to improve the agency's ability to accurately determine revenue adequacy.
"However, during the past decade, both the structure of the rail industry and the flow of commerce have continued to change substantially. The Board believes a new examination of revenue adequacy is in order, and today has begun a proceeding to begin that process," STB said.
The Board's Notice seeking comment, announcing a subsequent hearing, and related data may be viewed and downloaded at the Board's website, www.stb.dot.gov, under "E-LIBRARY / Decisions & Notices / 04/ 02 / 14".