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August 3, 2006. The Surface Transportation Board is seeking public comment on several measures the agency proposes to adopt regarding railroad practices involving fuel surcharges. The proposals follow the STB's May 11, 2006 public hearing concerning the manner in which fuel surcharges are calculated and charged by railroads, and the extensive testimony submitted to the agency by the rail industry, the public, and railroad customers regarding those practices.

Specifically, the STB is proposing that:

• A railroad wishing to assess a fuel surcharge would need to develop a computation more closely linked to its increased fuel costs attributable to that movement.
• Railroads would be prohibited from "double dipping" by charging for the same fuel-cost increases for the same shipment both through a fuel surcharge and through application of a rate escalator based on an index, such as the STB's Railroad Cost Adjustment Factor (RCAF), without first subtracting any fuel-cost component from that index.
• Railroads would be required to use a single, uniform index--the Energy Information Administration "U.S. No. 2 Diesel Retail Sales by All Sellers (Cents per Gallon)"--for measuring fuel-cost increases.
• Each Class I railroad (the Nation's largest) would submit a monthly report to the agency showing the railroad's actual total fuel costs, total fuel consumption and total fuel surcharge revenues, as well as how much of its total fuel surcharge revenues were shared with its shortline connections.

View the announcement on the STB Website
View the decision document in the STB database

How to submit comments to the STB

Comments are due on September 25, 2006. You may submit your comments via the STB website E-Filing page which contains a link for “Other Submissions.” Be sure to include the docket number EP-661-0.

How RSI is helping companies control their rail rates and keep up with tariff changes RSI's rate management services help you to reduce and control rising carrier costs through the use of RSI's costing, analytical tools, and expertise. As well as a complete railcar tracing solution, shippers can use RSInet store and maintain all of their rail rate data and receive automatic updates for fuel surcharge and tariff changes. Contact us at info@rsilogistics.com or go to the RSInet page to learn more.