87 Fr 36569

Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of..., 87 FR 36569-01

87 FR 36569-01, 2022 WL 2176428(F.R.)
NOTICES
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of Information Collection: Urgent Rail Service Issues
Friday, June 17, 2022
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
*36569 ACTION: Amended Notice and request for comments.
SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, the Surface Transportation Board gives notice that it is requesting from the Office of Management and Budget emergency
approval for an existing collection without an OMB Control Number, Urgent Rail Service Issues, as described below. This
notice amends and supersedes the previous notice seeking comments and extends the due dates, so that all comments will now
be due on a single date.
DATES: Comments on this information collection should be submitted by July 1, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Chris Oehrle, PRA Officer, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington,
DC 20423-0001, or to [email protected]. When submitting comments, please refer to “Urgent Rail Service Issues.” For further
information regarding this collection, contact Ian Anderson at (202) 245-0337 or [email protected]. Assistance for the
hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are requested concerning each collection as to (1) whether the particular
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Board, including whether the collection
has practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the Board's burden estimates; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the
use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology, when appropriate. Submitted comments will
be included and summarized in the Board's request for OMB approval.
Subjects: In this notice, the Board is requesting comments on the following information collection:
Description of Collection
Title: Urgent Rail Service Issues.
OMB Control Number: 2140-XXXX.
STB Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Emergency approval of an existing information collection without an OMB control number.
Respondents: Class I (Large) railroads.
Number of Respondents: Seven.
Estimated Time Per Response: See Table below.

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Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of..., 87 FR 36569-01

Table—Estimated Hours per Response
Type of filing

Estimated hours per
response

Service Recovery Plans *

80

Historical Data *

8

Service Progress Reports *

8

Individual Conference Calls *

0.5

Weekly Performance Data

8

Monthly Employment Data

16

Supplement to April 2022 Employment Data

8

*36570 Frequency: One-time, bi-weekly and monthly, as provided in Table below
Table—Estimated Number of Responses
Type of filing

Number of

Estimated

respondents
frequency
Service Recovery Plans *

4

1

Historical Data *

4

1

Service Progress Reports *

4

13

Individual Conference Calls *

4

6

Weekly Performance Data

7

26

Monthly Employment Data

7

6

Supplement to April 2022 Employment Data

7

1

Total Burden Hours (annually including all respondents): 2,964 (sum of estimated hours per response x number of annual
responses x frequency for each type of filing), as provided in Table below
Table—Total Estimated Burden Hours
Type of filing

Estimated hours per

Number of

Estimated

Total annual burden hours

response
respondents

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Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of..., 87 FR 36569-01

frequency
Service Recovery Plans *

80

4

1

320

Historical Data *

8

4

1

32

Service Progress Reports *

8

4

13

416

0.5

4

6

12

Weekly Performance Data

8

7

26

1,456

Monthly Employment Data

16

7

6

672

8

7

1

56

Individual Conference Calls *

Supplement to April 2022 Employment
Data
Total Annual Burden Hours

...................................

2,964

Total “Non-hour Burden” Cost: There are no non-hourly burden costs for this collection. The collections may be filed
electronically.
Needs and Uses: The Board is responsible for the economic regulation of common carrier rail transportation. Under 49 U.S.C.
1321(b), 11123, and 11145(a), the Board is empowered to address immediate service issues. Collecting this information will
enable the Board to take necessary action to timely deal with the unanticipated and urgent service issues affecting the U.S.
rail system. These measures are meant to inform the Board's assessment of further actions that may be warranted to address
the acute service issues facing the rail industry and to promote industry-wide transparency, accountability, and improvements
in rail service.
At the Board's April 26 and 27, 2022 public hearing in Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service, the Board received extensive
testimony on severe rail service issues reported by a wide range of witnesses—including agricultural, energy, and other shippers,
as well as government officials, rail labor, and rail experts. The Board has also continued to review and monitor weekly rail
service performance data that indicated substantial deterioration in service.
In a decision served on May 6, 2022, the Board found that immediate action was needed to address the significant service
problems, and it ordered certain railroads to immediately submit relevant information. This information collection directed the
four largest U.S. rail carriers—BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), CSX Transportation (CSXT), Norfolk Southern Railway
Company (NSR), and Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP)—to submit service recovery plans, along with bi-weekly progress
reports for the next six months, in an effort to address service deficiencies that are impacting the public, businesses, and the
U.S. economy. This collection also required all Class I rail carriers operating in the United States to report more comprehensive
and customer-centric performance metrics and employment data, also for a six-month period.
In a decision served June 13, 2022, the Board is supplementing its May 6 decision and is (1) requiring BNSF, CSXT, NSR,
and UP to correct deficiencies in their service recovery plans and provide additional information on their actions to improve
service and communications with customers and (2) updating the technical documentation required of all Class I railroad for
both the weekly service data and the monthly employment data. The Board is taking this action to better inform its and the
public's assessment of actions that may be warranted to address the acute service issues described above.
This decision and notice concurrently reflects the Board's decision to supplement this information collection. Correspondingly,
it updates, amends and supersedes the Board's notice published June 3, 2022 (87 FR 33,868). It updates the burdens for this

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Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of..., 87 FR 36569-01

information collection to reflect a higher level of specificity requested for Service Recovery Plans and additional metrics
requested for the Monthly Employment Data, as updated in the Board's decision served concurrently with this decision.
This updated collection will be used by the Board to inform its understanding of the current service problems and progress
being made to resolve them and inform whether additional action is warranted. The collection is also intended to promote
industry-wide transparency, accountability, and improvements in *36571 rail service. Although not all Class I carriers are
experiencing service problems to the same degree, the Board is also requiring certain reporting requirements to apply to all
Class I carriers so that the Board can assess the current service issues across the rail network as a whole. Because the U.S.
rail system is an interconnected network, problems in one geographic area can quickly spread elsewhere. The supplemented
reporting requirements will give the agency and stakeholders access to data needed for a more-timely understanding of the
extent and location of the acute service issues and labor and equipment shortages. The information received by the Board from
this collection will be filed in Docket No. EP 770 (Sub-No. 1) and will be publicly available at www.stb.gov and may be found
by a search in that docket under the “Proceedings and Actions” pull-down menu.
The Board makes this submission because, under the PRA, a federal agency that conducts or sponsors a collection of information
must display a currently valid OMB control number. A collection of information, which is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3)
and 5 CFR 1320.3(c), includes agency requirements that persons submit reports, keep records, or provide information to the
agency, third parties, or the public. Under 5 CFR 1320.13, emergency processing is appropriate here and the Board is providing
an extended two-week comment period through publication in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of
information.
Dated: June 13, 2022.
Aretha Laws-Byrum,
Clearance Clerk.

[FR Doc. 2022-13029 Filed 6-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

Footnotes
*

These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I railroads.

*

These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I railroads

*

These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I railroads.

End of Document

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