2140-0023 Supporting Statement 2020 -- Statutory Licencing (to ROCIS)

2140-0023
November 2020
Expires 11/30/20
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR REQUEST OF OMB APPROVAL
UNDER THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND 5 C.F.R. § 1320
The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) requests a three-year extension of
approval for the Board’s collections from those seeking statutory licensing authority (OMB
Control Number: 2140-0023).
A. Justification.
1. Why the collection is necessary. The Surface Transportation Board is, by statute,
responsible for the economic regulation of common carrier freight railroads and certain other
carriers operating in the United States. As mandated by Congress, parties seeking to construct,
acquire, or operate a line of railroad, and railroads seeking to abandon or to discontinue
operations over a line of railroad or, in the case of two or more railroads, to consolidate their
interests through merger or a common-control arrangement (together, rail authority), are required
to file an application for prior approval and authority with the Board. See 49 U.S.C. §§ 1090103; 11323-26.
In addition to the application process, Congress directed the Board to provide exemptions
from the application process whenever it finds that application of a statutory provision is
unnecessary to carry out transportation policy and either (1) the transportation is limited in scope
or (2) an application is not necessary to protect shippers. See 49 U.S.C. § 10502. Pursuant to its
exemption authority, the Board has minimized the burden on filers by issuing rules that allow
parties to file a notice of exemption or petition for exemption in lieu of an application.
As part of the process (and as previously approved under OMB Control No. 2140-0016),
a carrier or other party that acquires (through sale or lease) a rail line is required to submit a copy
of any agreement that contains a rail interchange commitment as well as other information about
the interchange commitment. See 49 C.F.R. §§ 1121.3(d), 1150.33(h), 1150.43(h), 1180.4(g)(4).
This allows the Board to monitor the use of rail interchange commitments in proposed
transactions.
The collection by the Board of these applications, petitions for exemption, notices of
exemption, and related information enables the Board to meet its statutory duty to regulate the
referenced rail transactions. See 49 U.S.C. § 1321.
The table below shows the statutory and regulatory provisions under which the Board
requires this collection.

Table – Statutory and Regulatory Provisions
Certificate Required

Statutory Provision

Regulations

Construct, Acquire, or
Operate Railroad Lines

49 U.S.C. § 10901

49 C.F.R. pt. 1150

Short Line purchases
by Class II and Class
III Rail Carriers

49 U.S.C. § 10902

49 C.F.R. § 1150.41-45

Abandonments and
Discontinuances

49 U.S.C. § 10903

49 C.F.R. pt. 1152

Railroad Acquisitions,
Trackage Rights, and
Leases

49 U.S.C. §§ 11323-26

49 C.F.R. pt. 1180

Rail Interchange
Commitments

49 U.S.C. § 1321

49 C.F.R. § 1121.3(d)
49 C.F.R. § 1150.33(h)
49 C.F.R. § 1150.43(h)
49 C.F.R. § 1180.4(g)(4)

2. How the collection will be used. When a party (usually a railroad or a party wishing
to become a railroad) seeks rail authority (a benefit) from the Board, it must file an application,
petition for exemption, or notice of exemption. The Board reviews each filing and decides
whether the requester has met the statutory and regulatory requirements to receive or obtain the
requested rail authority.
When an application or petition for exemption is filed, the Board will either grant or deny
the requested rail authority after significant analysis. When a notice of exemption is filed, as
discussed in section 5 below, the Board generally limits its review to whether the procedural
requirements of its regulations are met. The information the Board collects regarding
interchange commitments (which may limit the future interchange of traffic with third parties)
aids it in determining whether a proposed transaction is appropriate for the exemption process or,
on the other hand, whether it raises competitive issues and requires additional scrutiny.
3. Extent of automated information collection. These documents may be e-filed on the
Board’s website, located at www.stb.gov. The public may also access these filings on the
Board’s website.
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4. Identification of duplication. The information requested does not duplicate any other
information available to the Board or the public. Each application, petition, notice, or agreement
is unique.
5. Effects on small business. This information collection does not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. While most of the estimated 80
respondents are small businesses, the exemptions available to small business filers require a
relatively limited amount of time and expense for drafting and filing. In many cases, parties may
file a notice of exemption with the Board, and, if procedurally proper, the notice of the filing is
published in the Federal Register by the Board. Shortly after publication, the filer typically
obtains the requested authority automatically. Alternatively, parties may file a petition for
exemption. The petition for exemption allows for more scrutiny and opportunity for opposition
than a notice of exemption, but generally is less burdensome than the application process.
Today, the clear majority of parties seek rail authority through an exemption, and most
exemptions are sought through the notice-of-exemption process. Filers also may seek a waiver
of filing fees due to hardship.
6. Impact of less frequent collections. Under the statute, the Board is required to
regulate the transactions covered by this collection. Without this collection, the Board could not
fulfill its statutory responsibilities.
7. Special circumstances. No special circumstances apply to this collection.
8. Compliance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8. As required, the Board published a notice
providing a 60-day comment period regarding this collection. See 85 Fed. Reg. 21495 (Apr. 17,
2020). No comments were received. A 30-day notice was published concurrently with this
submission to Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 85 Fed. Reg. 37147 (June 19, 2020).
9. Payments or gifts to respondents. The Board does not provide any payment or gift to
respondents.
10. Assurance of confidentiality. Although most of the information collected, as
described above, is available to the public, some of the information collected may be protected
and treated as confidential. At times, parties requesting authority under 49 U.S.C. §§ 10901-03
and 11323-26 may wish to file commercially sensitive information. To protect such information,
parties may mark documents or portions of documents as “confidential” or “highly confidential.”
See 49 C.F.R. § 1104.14. The Board limits access to confidential information to shippers or
other affected parties who demonstrate a need for the information and ensure that the documents
will be kept confidential. See 49 C.F.R. §§ 1121.3(d); 1150.33 (h); 1150.43(h); 1180.4(g)(4).
11. Justification for collection of sensitive information. No sensitive information of a
personal nature is requested.

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12. Estimation of burden hours for respondents. 4,257 hours. The estimated annual
labor burden for potential respondents is based on information provided by the railroad industry
and its representatives (fewer than 10) and generally depends on the type of filing and the
transaction. As discussed above, a respondent may use an application, petition for exemption, or
notice of exemption to seek rail authority. The application traditionally has entailed the most
burden hours, the petition the next-most, and the notice of exemption – the least burdensome
way to seek rail authority – the fewest.
As provided in Table 1 – Annual Average Number of Responses for FY 2017-19 below,
respondents filed three applications, 12 petitions for exemption, 103 notices of exemption, and
four interchange commitments annually based on an actual three-year average (FY 2017-19) of
filings. When multiplied by the number of hours for each type of filing, as provided in Table 2 –
Estimated Number of Hours Per Response below, the estimated annual burden hours for 122
responses is 4,257 hours (sum of estimated hours per response X number of responses for each
type of filing), as shown in Table 3 – Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours.
Number of respondents: 80
Frequency: On occasion
Table 1 – Annual Average Number of Responses for FY 2017-2019
Average number of filings per year under
49 U.S.C. 10901-03 and 11323-26
3
12
103
4

Type of filing
Applications
Petitions*
Notices*
Interchange commitments

Table 2 – Estimated Hours per Response
Number of hours per response under
49 U.S.C. 10901-03 and 11323-26
524
58
19
8

Type of filing
Applications
Petitions*
Notices*
Interchange commitments

Table 3 – Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours
Type of filing
Applications

Hours per
response
524

Annual number of
filings
3
4

Total annual
burden hours
1,572

Petitions*
58
12
696
Notices*
19
103
1,957
Interchange commitments
8
4
32
Total annual burden hours
122
4,257
* Under section 10502, petitions for exemption and notices of exemption are permitted in lieu of
an application.
However, the actual hourly burden to respondents will depend on the facts and complexity of
each situation in which they seek rail authority.
13. Other costs to respondents. Because Board collections are submitted electronically
to the Board, there is no cost for filing with the Board. However, for some filings, respondents
are sometimes required to send consultation letters to various other governmental agencies.
Copies of these letters are part of an environmental and historic report that must be filed with this
collection (unless waived by the Board). Because some of these other agencies may require hard
copy letters, there may be some limited mailing costs, which staff estimates in total to be
approximately $1,750.
14. Estimated costs to the Board. The estimated cost to the Board is approximately 0.1
FTEs for formation of staff teams (for applications and larger proceedings) and the review and
processing of all filings that are a part of this collection.
15. Changes in burden hours. This is an existing collection, which is being adjusted to
update the burdens and costs based on the actual number of recent filings, using a recent threeyear average. Based on the difference between the currently applicable three-year average
(2017-2019) and the previously used three-year average (using 2014-2016), the estimated
number of notices decreased by 10 and the estimated number of applications increased by two.
As a result of this distribution change, there was a net decrease of eight responses, but a net
increase of approximately 858 burden hours. For comparison, the decrease of 10 notices resulted
in a decrease of 190 annual burden hours. At the same time, the increase of two applications
resulted in increase of approximately 1,050 annual burden hours. These are accurate results.
16. Plans for tabulation and publication. The information in this collection that is not
confidential will be posted on the Board’s website, located at www.stb.gov. However, as
discussed above, when these filings contain confidential information, only a public, redacted
version is published on the Board’s website.
17. Display of expiration date for OMB approval. The new expiration date for this
collection will be published in the Federal Register when the collection is approved by OMB.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement. Not applicable.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.
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Not applicable.

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