STB

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.,

WASHINGTON –Three Class I railroads, the BNSF Railway Co., the Norfolk Southern Railway Co., and the Soo Line Railroad Co. (a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway Co., were revenue adequate for 2006. All other Class I freight railroads were found to be revenue inadequate for that year. The Surface Transportation Board made its determinations of revenue adequacy for the seven Class I freight railroads (the Nation’s largest) for 2006. A railroad is considered to be revenue adequate if it achieves a rate of return on net investment (ROI) equal to at least the current cost of capital (i.e., the cost