STB

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will hold a public hearing next month to discuss “issues related to the common carrier obligation of railroads—the duty of railroads to provide transportation or service on reasonable request—with respect to the transportation of hazardous materials.” The hearing follows one held in April on the general topic of the common carrier obligation of railroads. The July 16 hearing “will provide a forum for a more detailed discussion of issues specifically pertaining to the railroads’ common carrier obligation regarding the movement of toxic by inhalation hazards and other hazardous materials,” the STB said in a

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board issued a decision granting an estimated $30 million in rate reductions and reparations in the maximum railroad-rate case brought before the Board by the Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCPL) against Union Pacific Railroad. At issue in this case was KCPL’s challenge to rates charged by UP for the rail transportation of coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to KCPL’s Montrose Generating Station near Ladue, Mo. The parties to this case stipulated that the maximum lawful rate should be set at 180 percent of the variable cost of providing service. In its decision,

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass. — Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Railway have agreed to create an improved rail route between Albany, N.Y., and the greater Boston, Mass., area called the “Patriot Corridor.” Investments in the Patriot Corridor are expected to improve track quality and customer service, boost train speed and reliability, and increase capacity on the route. PAR and NS each will have a 50 percent interest in the newly formed railroad company, called “Pan Am Southern.” PAR has agreed to transfer to the joint venture its 155-mile main line track that runs between Mechanicville (Albany), N.Y., and Ayer, Mass.,