[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 117 (Friday, June 17, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36569-36571]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13029]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD


Two-Week Notice of Amended Request for Emergency Approval of 
Information Collection: Urgent Rail Service Issues

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Amended Notice and request for comments.

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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.

                   Table--Estimated Hours per Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Estimated
                     Type of filing                          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
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* These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I
  railroads.


[[Page 36570]]

    Frequency: One-time, bi-weekly and monthly, as provided in Table 
below

                  Table--Estimated Number of Responses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Number of       Estimated
             Type of filing                 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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I railroads

    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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Estimated
                 Type of filing                      hours per       Number of       Estimated     Total annual
                                                     response       respondents      frequency     burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Service Recovery Plans *........................              80               4               1             320
Historical Data *...............................               8               4               1              32
Service Progress Reports *......................               8               4              13             416
Individual Conference Calls *...................             0.5               4               6              12
Weekly Performance Data.........................               8               7              26           1,456
Monthly Employment Data.........................              16               7               6             672
Supplement to April 2022 Employment Data........               8               7               1              56
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Annual Burden Hours...................  ..............  ..............  ..............           2,964
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* These sub-collections only apply to the four largest Class I railroads.

    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 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

[[Page 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