Surface Transportation Board Matters and Regulatory Litigation

Sidley has the largest practice of any U.S. law firm in matters before the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the independent regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over many aspects of railroad economic activity. Our representation has ranged from major rail merger cases and smaller consolidation proceedings, to a number of the largest rate disputes to come before the STB and its predecessor (the Interstate Commerce Commission), to licensing and abandonment proceedings and numerous other matters.

We also regularly represent the Association of American Railroads and several individual freight railroads in STB rulemaking proceedings that have dealt with everything from revising the standards for adjudicating major rail merger cases to standards for both large and smaller rate complaints. We are lead counsel for the Association of American Railroads in the current rulemaking regarding the determination of a proper methodology for calculating the railroad industry’s cost of capital, a critical element of many of the STB’s functions and of a number of standards it administers in rate and other proceedings.