Shippers are praising proposed changes that federal regulators have approved to the system used to dispute rates railroads charge, aiming to update a system that is so costly and cumbersome it is little used.
The new procedures the U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved this week may give shippers a way to resolve rate disputes of less than $4 million in a matter of months instead of years, and at a much lower cost. But the major freight railroads expressed reservations about the new system that would take effect sometime early next year.
