The Surface Transportation Board is an independent federal agency that handles the economic regulation of freight railroads, including rates, mergers, line construction, and line abandonments, and resolves shipper-railroad disputes. It also has narrower authority over certain non-energy pipelines, intercity bus carriers, household-goods movers' tariffs, and rates for non-contiguous domestic water transportation (such as mainland-to-Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico shipping). It does not regulate railroad safety, which is the Federal Railroad Administration's responsibility.
Created by Congress under the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (full independence from DOT and expansion from three to five members enacted by the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015) (Pub. L. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803; 5-member structure and independence per Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015, Pub. L. 114-110, 129 Stat. 2228; codified at 49 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.), it acts within the authority that statute grants. Its actions are subject to judicial review and to congressional oversight and funding.
