FederalRegister.gov regulatory documents
Filter the reviewed cache from January 1, 2025 forward by document type, structured agency, publication date, and source-supplied open comment deadline.
The Board's regulations pertaining to the filing of pleadings prohibit the filing of a reply to a reply. The Board is considering whether to modify its regulations or practices to allow replies to replies (and if so, to what extent) and seeks comments on how the Board's regulations on such filings would best promote fairness, efficiency, and predictability for all parties that appear in proceedings before the Board.
The Surface Transportation Board has received a petition asking it to revise and streamline the rules governing ex parte communications. The Board is considering several changes to its ex parte regulations and seeks comment from interested persons on the changes being considered. The Board also invites commenters to identify additional options for revisions to the Board's ex parte communications rules.
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) proposes to clarify, update, and streamline its existing environmental regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and to add delegations of authority related to environmental review. The Board is taking this action to conform its regulations to current practices and changes in the law and to support government-wide consistency in the NEPA process to the extent practicable and in accordance with Board authorities. Among those changes are the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) rescission of its NEPA implementing regulations, the 2023 and 2025 amendments to NEPA, changes to other relevant statutes, executive orders, and case law relating to the implementation of NEPA, including recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent. These revisions will also ensure the development and continuance of a sound rail transportation system and reduce regulatory barriers to entry into and exit from the rail industry. The Board asks for comments on the proposed changes.
The Surface Transportation Board proposes to repeal its regulations on "Intramodal Rail Competition," which implement the agency's statutory authority to prescribe reciprocal switching agreements, through routes, and through rates. The approach set out in the regulations, which narrows the Board's statutory discretion, may no longer be appropriate on an industrywide basis, and its repeal would allow the Board to consider the prescription of through routes, through rates, and reciprocal switching agreements on a case-by-case basis under the applicable statutory standards.
The Board provides notice that comments in this docket will now be due no later than November 24, 2025, and replies in this docket will be due no later than December 8, 2025.
The Board proposes to terminate Class I carriers' supplemental reporting of certain Positive Train Control (PTC) expenditures and to require Class I carriers to report two service metrics on a weekly basis. Because PTC is now fully implemented, the Board proposes deregulatory action to end this reporting. With respect to service- related reporting, the Board proposes to require Class I carriers to report metrics that would advance the Board's objective of ensuring rail service reliability.
The Board is adopting a final rule terminating Class I carriers' supplemental reporting of certain Positive Train Control (PTC) expenditures, and it is requiring Class I carriers to report two service metrics on a weekly basis.
The Board is revising its previously issued final rule, which implemented the annual inflationary adjustments to the Board's civil monetary penalties, to conform to guidance subsequently received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As revised, the final rule reflects no cost-of-living adjustment for 2026.
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) recently completed a reorganization in which it combined its two legal offices, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Proceedings, to form the Office of Chief Counsel. The Board is issuing a final rule to make nomenclature changes reflecting the establishment of the Office of Chief Counsel as a result of this reorganization, to remove obsolete references, and to revise its rules to no longer accept paper checks or money orders as a form of payment.
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) is issuing a final rule to implement the annual inflationary adjustment to its civil monetary penalties, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.
The Board updates for 2025 the fees that the public must pay to file certain cases and pleadings with the Board. Pursuant to this update, 60 of the Board's 135 fees will increase, two will decrease, and 73 fees will remain at their current levels.
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) is removing its final rule concerning Final Offer Rate Review because the final rule was vacated upon judicial review. The Board is also terminating the proceeding in Docket No. EP 665 (Sub-No. 2).
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) is issuing a final rule to implement the annual inflationary adjustment to its civil monetary penalties, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.
