§10705 Authority: Through Routes, Joint Classifications, Rates, and Divisions Prescribed by Board

Summary

The Board can set through routes, the rules for those routes, how traffic is classified, the rates, and how the money from a joint route is split for rail carriers it oversees. The Board can also force a carrier to use only part of its own track on a through route when an intermediate railroad lies between the route ends if one of three things is true: another law listed (sections 10741, 10742, or 11102) requires it; including those lines would make the route unreasonably long compared with a reasonable alternative; or the Board thinks the shorter route gives adequate, more efficient, or cheaper service. The Board must give reasonable preference to the carrier that starts the shipment when it picks through routes. If the carriers’ own plan for splitting a joint rate breaks section 10701, the Board must set the split itself. If a Board-ordered split later turns out to break section 10701, the Board can pick what split would have been fair and order payments changed back to the date the complaint was filed, the date an investigation was ordered, or a later date the Board decides is fair.