FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
08/05/98 (Wednesday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 98-49
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD NOTES ENHANCEMENTS TO ITS INTERNET SITE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
The Surface Transportation Board is issuing this release to advise the public of the many enhancements the Board has made to its Internet site on the World Wide Web--at the address
www.stb.dot.gov
--to increase information made available electronically and to make its site even more “user friendly” to the public.
Among the major enhancements recently made to the site have been the following:
•Completion of the updating of the Board’s electronic decision database, so that it now contains all of those Board decisions served (officially issued) on or after November 1, 1996, as required to be made available under the Electronic Freedom of Information Act of 1996;
•Posting of select filings in various Board proceedings;
•Posting of Board testimony before Congress coincident with its presentation by Board officials;
•Posting of the Board’s Annual Report, among other Board reports and information;
•Addition of a “How Do I?” link and a “search” capability to aid the public in navigating the Board’s site and accessing information.
Other important enhancements include the addition of a home page “message banner” providing informational updates relative to new postings and Board proceedings, and improved graphics to increase the ease and speed of site usage and to highlight major Board activities.
Since the official inauguration of the web page on November 10, 1997, the Board has received many favorable comments regarding its electronic presentation of Board decisions, news releases, transportation data, publications, and organizational and biographical information. Especially well received by the public was the Board’s decision to provide for the e-mailing of its news releases to those who register to receive them, as well as links to the “CSX-Norfolk Southern-Conrail merger” proceeding recently concluded by the Board.
In noting the enhancements to its site, the Board added that it also has identified those “mission-critical” databases needing correction relative to the “Millenium Bug” or “Year 2000/YK2 Problem,” and has now made those corrections.
Finally, the Board said that it is assessing the addition of other practical enhancements to its site to improve public access and information. Such possible enhancements could include the electronic posting of the Board’s fee schedule, the posting of the full text of all filings received in matters before the Board, and the “electronic streaming” of live audio and video coverage of public hearings held by the Board.
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