Draft Waybill Statement of Work 2023-2027

Statement of Work
Surface Transportation Board
Railroad Carload Waybill Sample

1. Introduction and Background

The Federal Railroad Administration (the FRA or the Administration) is an agency within

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the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) concerned with intermodal transportation. FRA was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. FRA’s mission is to enable the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of people and goods for a strong America, now and in the future.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is an independent, bipartisan adjudicatory body. Until December 2015, STB was organizationally housed within DOT. STB has

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jurisdiction over certain surface transportation economic regulatory matters. The term “Government” is used to refer to the FRA and the STB collectively.

STB regulations, at 49 CFR Part 1244, require, among other things, that a subject railroad file with the STB waybill sample information for all line-haul revenue waybills terminated on its lines if it terminates at least 4,500 revenue carloads in any of the three preceding years, or if it terminates at least 5% of the revenue carloads terminating in any state in any of the three preceding years. Subject railroads generally submit waybill sample information as a computer file containing specified information from a sample waybill. See 49 CFR 1244.4 and Statement 81. After processing, the waybill

submissions are combined in a 913-byte length record format file, the Confidential Waybill Sample, and produced in Annual, Quarterly and Monthly subsets. The “Public Use File,” derived from the 913-byte Annual Confidential Waybill Sample, aggregates the data to protect the confidentiality of specific shipper and railroad information.1

Information from the Confidential Waybill Sample and the Public Use File is used to

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carry out the regulatory responsibilities of the STB and as input to STB dockets, projects, analysis, and studies. This data is also of value to the FRA in its oversight of the railroad industry. In addition, other federal agencies use waybill data as an important dataset for various studies and projects, and maintain information derived from it as part of their information base. Many states also used waybill data as a major source of information for developing state transportation plans. Finally, non-government entities seek access to waybill data for specific uses, including, but not limited to, the preparation of testimony

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and verified statements in STB and other regulatory proceedings. Access to the