Transportation Management, Policy and Technology"
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PRO CEE J IN S- Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting Theme: "Transportation Management, Policy and Technology" November 2-5, 1983 Marriott Crystal City Hotel Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel Arlington, VA Volume XXIV • Number 1 1983 gc <rR TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH FORUM 451 Impact of Staggers Rail Act on the Branchline Abandonment Process by Keith A. Klindworth* INTRODUCTION on existing abandonment procedures, and (2) to measure the impact of these WITH THE PASSAGE of the Stag- statutory changes by comparing sets of gers Rail Act of 1980, significant pre-Staggers and post-Staggers aban- changes were made in the federal sys- donment cases. tem of regulating railroad companies. Regulatory control over railroad activi- ties was significantly reduced with the STATUTORY CHANGES railroads receiving greater pricing and OF THE STAGGERS ACT service freedoms. The primary change made by fife One of the regulatory changes made Staggers Rail Act of 1980 concerning by the Staggers Act is in the process by branchline abandonment rs in the aban- Which rail carriers are allowed to dis- donment process: This change can lie continue operations on unprofitable low characterized as one of ,procedure, cr traffic density branch lines. The aban- form, as opposed to substantive change donment of branch lines is an emotional in abandonment law which defines the issue for rural agricultural shippers abandonment right. In this specific in- who fear a major increase in their mar- stance, while abandonment procedures keting costs, and rural communities and changed significantly, the substantive local governments which expect a crip- language in the U.S. Code concerning Piing effect on other businesses and an branch line abandonment remains large- accelerated deterioration of rural roads ly unchanged by the Act. and bridges from diverted traffic. Under- Accordingly, the substantive language lYing these fears is the realization that of the U.S. Code still requires that a rail the abandonment of railroad branch carrier may abandon a line only if the lines nationwide, as measured by miles ICC determines that the abandonment approved for abandonment by the Inter- will be consistent with "present and fu- state Commerce Commission, has been ture public convenience and necessity."2 steadily increasing over the past ten In addition, the burden of proof in aban- Years. Table 1 shows that during the donment proceedings before the Com- Period of 1973-1975, an average of 1125 mission remains with the applicant for Miles were approved for abandonment the abandonment application.3 Whereas during the period of 1980-1982 Whereas the substantive law concern-. ,an average of 3424 miles were approved. ing abandonment remains largely uri- In addition, denials of abandonment ap- changed by the Staggers Act, the proce- Plications by the Commission through- dural changes as itemized below, and out this period have been almost non- illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 in flow- existent.1 Considering these trends, the chart form, have been significant. statutory procedure by which railroads Ca discontinue and abandon service on 1. The ICC is longer required to un- 'ow density lines is more important than dertake an investigation upon peti- ever to agricultural and rural interests tion by an interested party on ail in preserving service on their lines. By application for abandonment.4 sPecifying the form of opposition which an interested party ean be Prior to Staggers, made and the time frame during could petition the Commission to under- hich abandonment opponents must act, investigation of the applicatian 'nese take an statutory procedures can ulti- with the only requirement that the order lately affect the substance and dispo- be served sition to conduct the investigation of the abandonment proceeding upon "any affected carrier not later than before the Commission. 5 days before the proposed effective date With the importance of the procedural of the abandonment."5 If a petition was Process for rail line abandonments, the made and an investigation undertaken, focus of this analysis is (1) to docu- the Commission would (1) postpone in lnent the changes of the Staggers Act whole or in part the effective date of abandonment, for (2) a reasonable pe- * necessary to COM.- O Agricultural Marketing Specialist, riod of time as was ffice of Transportation, U.S. Depart- plete the investigation, and (3) the iri- ment of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. vestigation could include "public hears- 452 TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH FORUM TABLE 1 Number of.Abandonment Applications Filed, and Cases Decided, Decisions Rendered, Applications Withdrawn, Miles Requested and Miles Granted of Cases Decided for Years 1973-1982 Number of Applications Miles : Miles Year . : Fited Decided Denied Granted Partial Withdrawn : Requested : Granted 1913 l96 112 2 102 7 1367 1211 1914 57 1 48 7 781 554 1915 102 255 3 72 179 4731 1610 1976 142 153 6 129 5 13 2967 2419 1977 84 s l.70 10 131 4 25 3118 1928 (978 116. 129 4 110 7 8 2938 2554 1979 96 136 9 115 3 11 4414 3022 1980 (12 151 2 125 23 7032 2479 1981 411 l95 1 180 14 4562 3600 1182 96 377 7 332 36 5079 4194 Notes: The following cases have been filed but had not been decided as of April 18, 1983: 1982 5 cases Definition of categories: Applications filed are number of applications filed during the year. Applications decided, denied, granted, and partially granted are the number of such deci- sions rendered during the specified year. Since an application may not be filed and decided within the same year, Applications decided and Applications filed for the same year do not refer to the same set of applications. Applications Withdrawn are the number of applica- tions withdrawn by date of withdrawal (decision date). Miles Requested and Miles Granted are the miles from the 'set of cases decided during the year, not from the cases filed during the year. Source: Office of the Secretary, Interstate Commerce Commission ings at any location reasonably adja- test is received within 30 days of an ap- cent to the rail line" involved in the plication, the Commission must deter- abandonment, which could be held at the mine within strict time limits whether request of any interested party or upon an investigation is needed. If an inves- the Commission's own initiative. tigation is undertaken it must be com- Staggers changed this entire process. pleted within a certain time and a deci- After Staggers the Commission has sion on the merits must be made by a within its own discretion the option of certain number of days after filing of whether to undertake an investigation the application. and is not obligated even upon petition investigation. In addi- 3. Language providing for local pub- to undertake an pro- tion to making investigations optional, lic hearings adjacent to the and as defined in the following section, posed rail line abandonment has Staggers substituted strict limits by been deleted. which investigations had to be concluded Pre-Staggers language provided the for the rather vague "reasonable period Commission could hold "public hearings of time" contained in pre-Staggers law. at any location reasonably adjacent to the rail line involved in the abandon- 2. Strict time limits have been placed investi- • on the ICC in disposing of an appli- ment proceeding" as part of its cation for abandonment.G gation. This language was deleted by the Staggers Act and under present law, the One of the major changes of the Stag- Commission is only obligated to take gers Act is the establishment of strict into consideration "the application of the time limits on mo-st prases of rail aban- rail carrier and any material submitted donment. ,Now, for instance, if a pro- by protestants."7 IMPACT OF RAIL ACT ON ABANDONMENT PROCESS 458 4. A carrier's compliance with systems the hypothesis that one of the primary map requirements may be viewed by effects of the Staggers changes was t the ICC if the carrier making an limit the length of process (interval be- abandonment application is in bank- tween file and decision date) for inves- ruptcy.8 tigated cases. Under this hypothesis, significant changes in length of process the post-Staggers RESEARCH METHODOLOGY for the pre- versus comparison would appear in the unin- The research method consisted of a vestigated cases. statistical comparison of pre-Staggers and post-Staggers sets of abandonment RESULTS cases. The data collection and refinement Process is defined below: Table 2 lists the number of cases in . 1. Two sets of abandonment applica- each category as defined in the research tions were compiled. Set 1 consisted of methodology. The cases have been sum- tee population of all abandonment ap- marized in three categories, total, inves- plications filed for a two-year period tigated and uninvestigated applications, Prior to Staggers from October 1, 1978 and within those categories subdivided to September 30, 1980; and Set 2 con- into three railroad classes, all roads, all sisted of the population of all abandon- roads except Conrail, and Conrail. Data ment applications filed during the two- is provided in each of these nine cate- Year period after Staggers, from Octo- gories for the pre-Staggers period (Set ber 1, 1980 through September 30, 1982. 1) and the post-Staggers period (Set 2. Since certain calculations required 2). both a file date and decision date for an Analysis of the number of applica- application, those cases of either Set 1 tions for both time periods reveals a or 2 not decided as of April 18, 1983 large difference in applications filed af- Were deleted. No cases in Set 1 and 5 ter Staggers as compared with before Cases in Set 2 were undecided as of Staggers.