STB updates internal regulations to streamline proceedings

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) this week laid out a slate of internal regulatory updates to improve procedural efficiency and align procedures with current practices.

The decision clarifies and expands delegations of authority to the board's chief counsel, establishes new delegations to the chief of passenger rail and investigations (COPRI) and formally codifies the board's grant-stamp processes for uncontested, routine matters, STB officials said in a press release.

Effective Sept. 17, the chief counsel gains authority to act on certain unopposed transactions involving motor carriers of passengers and to grant waivers of notice requests in specified exemption proceedings. The ruling also authorizes the COPRI to manage procedural matters and issue grant-stamp decisions in certain passenger-rail proceedings; and codifies a long-standing practice that allows designated officials to approve uncontested routine matters without a full written decision.

The revisions complement recent organizational changes, support the STB's goal of improving procedural efficiency, and implement recommendations that arose from STB Vice Chair Michelle Schultz's May 2025 listening sessions, STB officials said.

"These changes reinforce the board’s procedural framework, improve transparency and strengthen the support for those who appear before the board," said Schultz.