Surface Transportation Board February 10, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Information Collection Activities
Document Number: 2012-3178
Type: Notice
Date: 2012-02-10
Agency: Surface Transportation Board, Department of Transportation
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3519 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives notice of its intent to seek from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the information collections required under 49 U.S.C. 10904-05 and 10907, and 16 U.S.C. 1247(d). Under these statutory provisions, the Board administers programs designed to preserve railroad service or rail rights-of-way. When a line is proposed for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing with the Board: an offer of financial assistance (OFA) to subsidize or purchase a rail line for which a railroad is seeking abandonment (49 U.S.C. 10904), including a request for the Board to set terms and conditions of the financial assistance; a request for a public use condition (Sec. 10905); or a trail-use request (16 U.S.C. 1247(d)). Similarly, when a line is placed on a system diagram map identifying it as an anticipated or potential candidate for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing with the Board a feeder line application to purchase the identified rail line (Sec. 10907). Additionally, the railroad owning the rail line subject to abandonment must, in some circumstances, provide information to the applicant or offeror. The relevant information collections are described in more detail below. Comments are requested concerning: (1) The accuracy of the Board's burden estimates; (2) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; (3) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology when appropriate; and (4) whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Board, including whether the collection has practical utility. Submitted comments will be summarized and included in the Board's Request For OMB Approval.
Railroad Cost Recovery Procedures-Productivity Adjustment
Document Number: 2012-3072
Type: Notice
Date: 2012-02-10
Agency: Surface Transportation Board, Department of Transportation
In a decision served on February 6, 2012, we proposed to adopt 1.008 (0.8% per year) as the measure of average change in railroad productivity for the 2006-2010 (5-year) averaging period. This represents a 0.6% decrease over the average for the 2005-2009 period. The Board's February 6, 2012 decision in this proceeding stated that comments may be filed addressing any perceived data and computational errors in our calculation. It also stated that, if there were no further action taken by the Board, the proposed productivity adjustment would become effective on March 1, 2012.
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