United States S 2071: Reliable Rail Service Act

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 2071
To amend section 11101 of title 49, United States Code, to ensure that
rail carriers provide transportation or service in a manner that fulfills
the shipper’s reasonable service requirements.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE 21, 2023
Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. MARSHALL) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To amend section 11101 of title 49, United States Code,
to ensure that rail carriers provide transportation or
service in a manner that fulfills the shipper’s reasonable
service requirements.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reliable Rail Service 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. COMMON CARRIER TRANSPORTATION. 6
Section 11101 of title 49, United States Code, is 7
amended— 8
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•S 2071 IS
(1) in subsection (a)— 1
(A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; 2
(B) by inserting ‘‘, in a manner that meets 3
the shipper’s need for timely, efficient, and reli-4
able rail service and fulfills the shipper’s rea-5
sonable service requirements’’ after ‘‘on reason-6
able request’’; and 7
(C) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(2) In determining whether a rail carrier has vio-9
lated this section with respect to the provision of reason-10
able transportation service and the ability of the rail car-11
rier to meet its obligations under this section, the Board 12
shall consider— 13
‘‘(A) the impacts of reductions or changes in 14
the frequency of transportation or service, and the 15
availability and maintenance of reasonable local serv-16
ice schedules and delivery windows, on the provision 17
of reasonable transportation service; 18
‘‘(B) the impacts of reductions in employment 19
levels, including— 20
‘‘(i) reductions in clerical, customer serv-21
ice, maintenance, dispatch and train and engine 22
service employees; 23
‘‘(ii) reductions or changes in train or yard 24
crew availability; and 25
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•S 2071 IS
‘‘(iii) the consolidation or shifting of crews 1
across or within service territories; 2
‘‘(C) the impacts of reductions in equipment 3
and the availability of equipment, maintenance of 4
equipment or railroad infrastructure, lines and 5
yards, or shifting of equipment across or within 6
service territories or customer and commodity 7
groups; 8
‘‘(D) whether the service reasonably meets the 9
local operational and service requirements of the 10
person requesting transportation or service that are 11
consistent with the person’s needs and requirements 12
for the efficient and reliable receipt, transportation 13
and delivery of property; 14
‘‘(E) the transportation needs or circumstances 15
of the person requesting transportation or service 16
based upon previous service experience and taking 17
into account any physical or operational limitations 18
or restrictions at a facility or location; 19
‘‘(F) the commitment of the person requesting 20
transportation or service of equipment or other re-21
sources to support the transportation or service; 22
‘‘(G) whether any conditions imposed by the 23
rail carrier as requirements for service are required 24
to meet the local service requirements of the person 25
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•S 2071 IS
requesting service or permit the rail carrier to re-1
cover its variable cost of providing the requested 2
transportation or service; 3
‘‘(H) how the carrier is handling equipment 4
owned by others; and 5
‘‘(I) whether conditions imposed by the rail car-6
rier as requirements for service, including demur-7
rage, are reasonably reciprocated to meet the service 8
requirements of the person requesting service.’’; 9
(2) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 10
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘terms.’’ and inserting 11
‘‘terms, including reasonable transit or cycle times 12
and other service standards, as requested, consistent 13
with the needs and requirements of the person on 14
whose behalf the request is made for the efficient 15
and reliable receipt, transportation, and delivery of 16
property.’’; and 17
(3) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(g) Any proceeding initiated to consider a rail car-19
rier’s alleged violation of this section shall be expedited 20
by the Board, and completed not later than 180 days after 21
the initiation of the proceeding. Any proceeding initiated 22
to obtain service terms under subsection (b) shall be com-23
pleted not later than 45 days after the initiation of