Supporting Statement - Form STB-54 - 2015extension

2140-0011
August 2015

SUPPORTING STATEMENT –FORM STB-54
ANNUAL REPORT OF CARS LOADED AND CARS TERMINATED)

A. Justification:
1. (a) Why the collection is necessary. The Surface Transportation Board (Board) has
broad statutory authority to provide economic regulatory oversight of railroads, addressing such
matters as rates; service; the construction, acquisition and abandonment of rail lines; carrier
mergers; and interchange of traffic among carriers (49 U.S.C. §§ 10101-11908). Under
49 U.S.C. §§ 11145, the Board may require regulated carriers to submit financial and statistical
data and reports that the Board needs to carry out its mission. The collection in Form STB-54,
carrier annual reports of the number of cars loaded and cars terminated on the reporting carrier’s
line, is required under 49 C.F.R. § 1247. Information reported in this form is entered into the
Uniform Railroad Costing System (URCS), which is a cost-measurement methodology. The
Board is requesting an extension without modification of this information collection, which will
otherwise expire on August 31, 2015.
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2. How the collection will be used. URCS, which was developed by the Board pursuant
to 49 U.S.C. §§ 11161-62, is used in rail rate proceedings as a tool to calculate the variable costs
of providing a particular rail service in accordance with 49 U.S.C. § 10707(d). The Board also
uses URCS to analyze the information that it obtains through the annual railroad waybill sample,
pursuant to 49 U.S.C. §§ 721, 10707, 11144-45 and 49 C.F.R. § 1244, and in railroad
abandonment proceedings to measure off-branch costs (see 49 U.S.C. § 10904(a); 49 C.F.R.
§ 1152.32(n)). Additionally, many other federal agencies and industry groups depend on Form
STB-54 for information regarding the number of cars loaded and terminated on the reporting
carrier’s line.
3. Extent of automated information collection. The railroads submit this report
electronically in Excel spreadsheet format.
4. Identification of duplication. No other Federal agency has economic regulatory
authority over freight rail transportation. Because no other Federal agency collects the
information in this report, nor is this information available from any other source, no duplication
of information. In most instances, the information sought is unique to each carrier.
5. Effects on small business. No small entities will be affected by the collection of this
information. This reporting requirement applies only to Class I railroads, which have operating
revenues in excess of $250 million (1991 dollars) (adjusted for inflation using 2014 data, the

revenue threshold for a Class I rail carrier is $ 475,754,803). The Board has adopted an indexing
methodology that will ensure that regulated carriers are classified based on real business
expansion, rather than the effects of inflation.
6. Impact of less frequent collections. The Board cannot fulfill its statutory
responsibilities without annual information on the number of cars loaded and cars terminated on
the reporting carrier’s line.
7. Special circumstances. No special circumstances described in question 7 apply to this
collection.
8. Compliance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8. As required, the Board published a Federal
Register notice providing a 60-day comment period regarding this collection. No comments
were received. 80 Fed. Reg. 32201 (June 5, 2015). As required, a Federal Register notice
providing an additional 30-day comment period is being published simultaneously with this
submission.

9. Payments or gifts to respondents. The Board does not provide any payment or gift to
respondents.
10. Assurance of confidentiality. All information collected through this report is
available to the public.
11. Justification for collection of sensitive information. There are no questions of a
sensitive nature with respect to the information collected.
12. Estimation of burden hours for respondents. The following information pertains to
the estimate of burden hours associated with this collection:
(1) Number of respondents: 7.
(2) Frequency of response: Each Class I carrier is required to file the annual
STB-54 report.
(3) Annual hour burden per respondent and total annual hour burden for all
respondents: Based on information provided by the railroad industry, it is estimated that it
takes no more than four man-hours each time this report is prepared. The total annual
burden hours for all seven respondents was estimated at no more than 28 hours (seven
respondents x four hours each). This estimate includes the time needed to gather the
information and edit, review, type, and proofread the data
13. Other costs to respondents: There are no non-hour start up costs associated with the
proposed modification to this collection. In addition, no non-hour costs for operation,
maintenance, or purchase of services associated with this collection have been identified. These
forms are submitted electronically.

14. Estimated costs to the Board: We estimate that it takes one hour (GS 13/1 at $55.49
per hour, including benefits) to review each of the seven filings per year; five minutes (0.08
hours) (GS 14/9 at $83.05 per hour, including benefits) to enter the data into URCS, and two
hours (Expert/Consultant at $68.37 per hour, including benefits) to post the reports on the
website, resulting in a total annual cost of $532.
15. Changes in burden hours. No change in burden hours is requested. The Board is
requesting an extension without modification.

16. Plans for tabulation and publication: These reports are posted on the Board’s website.
17. Display of expiration date for OMB approval. No exception is sought. The control
number and expiration date for this collection appear on the form.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement. Not applicable
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods: Not applicable