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Official reply From the Surface Transportaion Board on subject of hauling personal goods
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Mr. Rider, <br /> <br />This responds to the inquiries you have made about the possible <br />shipping of <br />personal household goods and furniture items by rail. As you have <br />indicated below, you are not an existing shipper located adjacent to or <br />reachable by the rail system. You have indicated also that you want <br />"station to station" or "team-track to team- track" service in boxcars <br />from <br />the involved railroads (CSXT and NS), but note that you can give no <br />indication as to where such shipments would originate or terminate. <br />You <br />have noted further that the involved railroads indicate that they do <br />not <br />handle personal household goods and are not willing to handle the <br />less-than-carload shipments you have requested. Further, you suggest <br />that <br />the involved railroads refuse to provide free team-tracks without a <br />contract even though state laws require them to have loading and <br />unloading <br />stations. While I appreciate that you are making certain of these <br />inquiries on behalf of Amish families, it is my opinion that you have <br />misinterpreted a number of issues involving the obligations of common <br />carrier railroads. First, railroads have no obligation to provide free <br />facilities for use by existing or prospective shippers, and if access <br />to <br />team-tracks is required by existing shippers, they are customarily <br />leased <br />to the shippers for their use. Second, railroads have tariffs or <br />pricing <br />documents that describe the services they hold themselves out to <br />provide, <br />the attendant costs for those services, and the terms of carriage. <br />Based <br />on the railroads' responses to you, it would appear that the railroads <br />do <br />not hold themselves out to handle personal household goods or <br />less-than-carload shipments of furniture. Third, railroads are subject <br />to <br />Federal Law and not State law, therefore state law would not apply to <br />services provided by railroads or the use of their facilities. <br />Finally, <br />under Federal Law, railroads do have a common carrier obligation to <br />respond <br />to reasonable requests for service from shippers located on their <br />lines. <br />However, based on the information you have provided, I do not see how <br />this <br />obligation applies to the demands being made by you. I hope this <br />response <br />is helpful to you. <br /> <br />Melvin F. Clemens, Jr., Director <br />Office of Compliance and Enforcement <br />Surface Transportation Board <br />Washington, DC <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Paul Rider <br /> <trainfinder22@ya To: <br />RailConsumer@stb.dot.gov <br /> hoo.com> cc: <br /> Subject: Re: Single Car <br />shipments of Personal Goods and <br /> 07/22/2005 12:47 Freight of all kinds in <br />Boxcars on teamtracks <br /> PM <br />
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