The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it will hold a public field hearing on September 4, 2014, to provide interested persons and parties the opportunity to report on service problems in the United States rail network, to hear from rail industry executives on their efforts to address service problems, and to discuss additional options to improve rail service.
The Board will hold a public field hearing at 8:00 a.m. local time, on Thursday, September 4, 2014, at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 4351 17th Avenue South, Fargo, North Dakota 58103.
The Board will direct Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) to appear at the hearing, and the agency also invites impacted shippers, other Class I railroads, and other affected carriers to appear. The hearing will be open for public observation.
Persons wishing to speak at the hearing in the case titled United States Rail Service Issues, Docket No. EP 724, should file with the Board a notice of intent to participate no later than August 25, 2014. Such notices are not required to be served on (officially distributed to) the parties of record (official participants) in this case, and will be posted to the STB's website when they are filed.
The Board has been closely monitoring the rail industry's performance since service problems began last year, and has taken a number of actions, both formal and informal, to address those problems. The Board held a hearing at its offices in Washington, D.C. on April 10, 2014. Following that hearing, the Board issued orders requiring CP and BNSF to provide their respective plans and supporting data regarding the movement of fertilizer and grain. In addition, the Board's Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance (OPAGAC) has been working with rail carriers to address and correct service issues as they arise.
Today's decision announcing the Sept. 4 hearing in EP 724, providing instructions for persons or parties wishing to speak at the hearing, and describing additional information the Board is requiring CP and BNSF to provide to the agency, may be viewed and downloaded at the Board's website, www.stb.dot.gov, under "E-LIBRARY / Decisions & Notices / 08 / 18 / 14".
### |