§10704 Authority and Criteria: Rates, Classifications, Rules, and Practices Prescribed by Board

Summary

The Board can hold a full hearing and, if it finds a railroad’s rate, classification, rule, or practice breaks the law, it can set the maximum rate or require a specific rule. The railroad must follow what the Board sets and stop the violating practice. The Board must keep and update rules for figuring how much revenue railroads need. Those rules must make sure, under honest and efficient management, that railroads can pay for current and future infrastructure and operating costs (including depreciation and obsolescence) and earn a reasonable return on invested capital. The Board must help railroads try to reach those revenue levels. The standards should provide income plus depreciation to support capital spending, repay reasonable debt, raise needed equity, handle inflation, and attract enough investment. Each year the Board must say which railroads are earning enough. The Board can only start these cases if someone files a complaint under section 11701 or as part of a pending complaint. If a rate is challenged, the Board must decide within 9 months after the record closes for a stand-alone cost case, or within 6 months if using the Board’s method under section 10701(d)(3). The Board must move cases quickly, limit delays, and use sanctions if needed. For stand-alone cost cases the timeline is: finish discovery within 150 days of starting; complete the evidentiary record within 155 days after discovery is completed; file closing briefs within 60 days after the record is completed; and issue a final decision within 180 days after the record is completed. The Board may extend these times if a party asks or for due process.