Choosing a freight service requires information about more than a quoted rate. The Surface Transportation Board’s permanent reporting rule, published December 5, 2016, creates a framework for service-performance information from Class I railroads and the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office through its Class I members. This December 6 retrospective examines an information mechanism, not evidence of cheaper transportation. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The May 5 supplemental proposal reveals the operational questions behind it. Its grain-order metric would distinguish overdue demand, average lateness, new and filled orders, and cancellations by shippers versus railroads. Such categories could help separate a backlog from changing demand. That usefulness is an interpretation of the proposed mechanism, not a measured gain or a claim that every proposed category was adopted. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The final grain provisions use different reporting details and allow Kansas City Southern to submit system-wide rather than state-level grain data. Railroads must explain their calculation methods and update those explanations when methods change. For someone comparing services, geographic scope and measurement choices therefore remain part of the information cost; a published table does not eliminate them. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The rule specified January 29, 2017 effectiveness and February 8 initial reporting. Weekly filings sit alongside monthly data and semiannual or occasional obligations. The proposal and final rule share one agency origin, so neither provides independent confirmation of an economic payoff. More interpretable data may inform logistics decisions, but the documents do not establish new capacity, easier switching between carriers or a reduction in freight prices. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

Source documents

  1. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-05/html/2016-29131.htm
  2. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-05-05/html/2016-10442.htm