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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
Surface Transportation Board
1925 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20423-0001
FOR RELEASE
05/29/98 (Friday)
No. 98-37
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD CLARIFIES THE NATURE OF "EXPRESS" TRAFFIC THAT
AMTRAK MAY CARRY ON ITS PASSENGER TRAINS; DIRECTS UP/SP TO CONTINUE TO MAKE
TRACKS AND FACILITIES AVAILABLE TO AMTRAK
Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today
that the Board has completed the proceeding that it instituted 8 months ago to
determine under the law the nature and extent of the duty of freight railroads
to allow the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to use their
tracks and facilities for the carriage of express. The Board also ordered the
Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) and its affiliate, Southern Pacific
Transportation Company (SP) (collectively, UP/SP), to permit Amtrak to
transport express over UP/SP lines.
The case raised questions about the definition of "express" transportation and
the extent to which freight railroads are required to allow Amtrak to use
their facilities to carry express. Freight railroads must permit Amtrak to
operate over their lines. Amtrak is authorized by law to operate intercity and
commuter rail passenger transportation and to transport mail and express, and
the law directs Amtrak to seek to increase its revenues from the
transportation of mail and express. The law, however, does not define
"express."
Historically, in addition to its passenger service, Amtrak has carried what it
and UP/SP appear to agree is express traffic. Recently, however, Amtrak has
attempted to increase its express traffic revenues by carrying additional
volumes of traffic that UP/SP argued in fact is general freight that freight
railroads may handle, but that Amtrak under the law may not. Because Amtrak
and UP/SP could not resolve the issue privately, Amtrak asked the Board to
intervene. The Board instituted a proceeding seeking public comment on the
"express" issue and provided interim guidelines to govern the conduct of the
parties during the pendency of the proceeding.
During the proceeding, many of the Nation's railroads argued that Congress, in
limiting Amtrak to express service, contemplated only the station-to-station
delivery of small packages that historically were handled in the typical
express shipment, and that passenger trains comprised almost entirely of express cars,
which the freight railroads claimed Amtrak intended to operate, would contravene the legislative
intent that Amtrak's express service be "incidental" to its passenger service.
The carriers urged the Board to find that Amtrak trains must have at least as
many passenger cars as express cars; that express traffic must be
differentiated from general freight by limiting it to small packages and less-
than-truckload or less-than-carload (LTL or LCL) shipments of no more than
8,000 pounds; that Amtrak may not use other switching or line-haul railroads
to move express shipments to or from shipper sidings, or to or from cross-
docking facilities not associated with its passenger stations; and that Amtrak
should not be allowed to provide carload train space to third-party
consolidators or carriers such as UPS.
In its decision issued today, the Board disagreed. Instead, it found, as
Amtrak had suggested, that "express" need not be restricted by commodity,
shipment size, type of equipment, or a variety of other operational factors
that may have been applied in the past, but instead should be defined more
flexibly as a premium transportation service at premium rates - expedited,
regularly scheduled train service provided at prices which are generally
higher than freight service - that is provided as an adjunct to Amtrak's
passenger service. The Board recognized that, as a practical matter,
particular operations would have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. But
the Board found generally that, because Amtrak's proposed express service
would fall within the limits described above, and because Amtrak's proposal
reflects the legislative intent that it take steps to increase express
revenue, the Board should not block Amtrak's efforts by defining express
narrowly. Thus, the Board found that the statute does not preclude Amtrak
from: offering carload or trailerload express service; transporting express
under contract or in partnership with third-party providers such as freight
forwarders, less-than-truckload motor carriers, or express companies like UPS
and Federal Express; or engaging other carriers, including other railroads, to
transfer express traffic to off-terminal cross-docking facilities or otherwise
perform off-terminal pickup, delivery, and consolidation.
The Board noted, however, that Amtrak's discretion to transport express is not
unlimited. Thus, it found that Amtrak may not run express-only trains, except
on the Northeast Corridor, which Amtrak owns, and that express service
generally must be an adjunct to genuine passenger service. Additionally, the
Board noted, in response to the railroads' concerns that increased express
service could pose operational difficulties for the freight railroads, that it
has authority to intervene, on a case-by-case
basis, to address operational issues.
Finally, the Board noted that the law permits railroads to charge Amtrak for
the use of their facilities. It found that, if Amtrak's increased express
service should cause capacity constraints requiring additional infrastructure
investment, the freight railroads should be able to recover those or any other
directly attributable costs from Amtrak.
The Board's decision was issued today in Application of the National Railroad
Passenger Corp. Under 49 U.S.C. 24308(a)--Union Pacific Railroad Company and
Southern Pacific Transportation Company,
STB Docket Finance Docket No. 33469.
E N D
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Last Updated 06/01/98 11:44 hrs. EST
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