WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today said it is seeking comments on whether railroads should be required to report performance metrics that measure their local service.
Class I railroads are required to report weekly performance data to the STB, including average train speed and average terminal dwell. But those measures do not include how railroads perform in first- and last-mile service.
Shippers have long complained that the STB performance metrics, which were adopted after the service issues that plagued megamergers two decades ago, don’t measure the service that railroad customers actually experience.
Complaints from shippers and their trade associations in recent years have centered on the railroads’ local service problems, including missed switches at customer facilities, the failure to deliver empties as promised, or to pick up cars that are ready to roll.
And a year ago several shipper groups — including the Freight Rail Customer Alliance, the National Coal Transportation Association, the National Industrial Transportation League, and the Private Railcar Food and Beverage Association — ”stated that their members have become increasingly aware of and concerned by what they describe as a gap between the service data and that the railroads report to the board and the level of service that shippers receive in the real world,” the STB said.
The Association of American Railroads counters that the local-service measure request is unnecessary, that the data collection would not be meaningful, and that railroads already provide customer-specific performance data on their shipper portals.
The STB says it wants comments from shippers and railroads regarding local service, whether further examination of first- and last-mile service is necessary, and whether data collection and reporting would place an undue burden on railroads.
Comments are due by Oct. 18, the board said in its decision.
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