Removal of Joint Rate Cancellation Regulations

AGENCY:

Surface Transportation Board, Transportation.

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) is removing regulations concerning the cancellation of through routes and joint rates, because those rules have been made obsolete by statutory changes.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

These rules are effective on September 30, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

John Sado, (202) 565-1661. [Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) for the hearing impaired: 1-800-877-8339.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Board is revising its regulations at 49 CFR 1144 to delete obsolete provisions and reflect other changes made by the ICC Termination Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995) (ICCTA). The rules at section 1144 were issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC or Commission) in Intramodal Rail Competition, 1 I.C.C.2d 822 (1985), and pertain to three situations: cancellations of through routes and/or joint rates; prescription of a through rate or joint route; and prescription of reciprocal switching. The Board retains jurisdiction to prescribe through routes and joints rates (49 U.S.C. 10705), and to prescribe reciprocal switching (49 U.S.C. 11102, replacing former 49 U.S.C. 11103).

The ICCTA, however, eliminated the joint rate and through route cancellation provisions of former 49 U.S.C. 10705(e) and 10705a. Former section 10705(e) was previously found at former section 15(3) of the Interstate Commerce Act and provided that a joint rate cancellation could be investigated or suspended by the ICC, and if it was suspended and an investigation was instituted, the cancelling carrier had to show that the proposed cancellation was in the public interest. Suspension was considered under the standards of former 49 U.S.C. 10707. See 49 CFR 1144.3. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 added a new section, former 49 U.S.C. 10705a, which provided a guaranteed cancellation of noncompensatory joint rates (below 110 percent of variable costs). Joint rates 110 percent or higher were to be considered under the public interest standard of former section 10705(e), and if the Commission determined that an investigation was warranted, the cancellation was to be suspended during the pendency of the consideration. See Family Lines Rail System—Unilateral Can. of Joint Rates, 365 I.C.C. 464, 466-67 (1981), aff'd, Southern R. Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 681 F.2d 29 (D.C. 1982).

We will eliminate sections 1144.1, 1144.3, and 1144.4 pertaining to the notification, suspension, and investigation of proposed joint rate cancellations. Not only are these sections obsolete with the elimination of the joint rate cancellation provisions of former 49 U.S.C. 10705(e) and 10705a, but they also contain references to obsolete sections 49 U.S.C. 10762(c)(3) (concerning tariff notification) and 49 U.S.C. 10707 (concerning rate suspensions). We will also remove the reference to through route or joint rate cancellations and suspension and investigation in the negotiations section, 49 CFR 1144.2.

The remainder of section 1144.2 and all of section 1144.5, concerning prescribing a through rate and establishing a switching arrangement, and section 1144.6, general provisions, are still applicable. As noted, the Board retains jurisdiction in these areas pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 10705 and 11102. Accordingly, we will not make any changes to section 1144.2 beyond removing the reference to cancellations, supra. We will not make substantive modifications to section 1144.5 but will only change obsolete references (section 11103 will be changed to section 11102 and section 11101a will be changed to section 11101.) We will remove a reference in section 1144.6 to our rules at 49 CFR 1132, which now pertain only to motor carriers, and the obsolete investigation section, 1144.4. Finally, these three remaining sections of this part will be renumbered as 49 CFR 1144.1, 1144.2, and 1144.3.

Because these changes merely remove obsolete regulations based on statutory provisions that have been eliminated and revise other regulations to provide updated statutory references, we find good cause to dispense with notice and comment. See 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). Moreover, we find good cause for making these rules effective on less than 30 days' notice under 5 U.S.C. 553(d), so that these changes will be effective by October 1, 2002, which is the cut-off date for revisions to the next edition of the applicable volume of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Copies of the decision may be purchased from Da-2-Da Legal Copy Service by calling 202-293-7776 (assistance for the hearing impaired is available through FIRS at 1-800-877-8339) or visiting Suite 405, 1925 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20006.

This action will not significantly affect either the quality of the human environment or the conservation of energy resources.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 1144

• Railroads

It is ordered:

1. The final rules set forth in this decision are adopted. Notice of the rules adopted here will be published in the Federal Register.

2. This decision is effective on September 30, 2002.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, part 1144, of title 49, chapter X, of the Code of Federal Regulations is revised to read as follows:

PART 1144—INTRAMODAL RAIL COMPETITION

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 721, 10703, 10705, and 11102.