rail services planning office

rail services planning office Sec. 205. (a) Establishment.— There is established, on the date of enactment of this Act, a new Office in the Commission to be known as the Rail Services Planning Office. The Office shall function continuously pursuant to the provisions of this Act, and shall cease to exist 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. The Office shall be administered by a director. (b) Director.— The Director of the Office shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Commission with the concurrence of 5 members of the Commission. The Director of the Office shall administer and be responsible for the discharge of the functions and duties of the Office from the date he takes office unless removed for cause by the Commission. He shall be compensated at a rate to be set by the Chairman of the Commission without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, classification, and General Schedule pay rates, but at a rate not in excess of the maximum rate for GS–18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of such title. (c) Powers.— The Director of the Office is subject to the direction of, and shall report to, such member of the Commission as the Chairman thereof shall designate. The Chairman may designate himself as that member. Such Director is authorized, with the concurrence of such member or (in case of disagreement) the Chairman of the Commission, to— (1) appoint, fix the compensation, and assign the duties of employees of the Office without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, and to procure temporary and intermittent services to the same extent as is authorized under section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed $250 a day for qualified experts. Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government and each independent regulatory agency of the United States is authorized and shall give careful consideration to a request to furnish to the Director of the Office, upon written request, on a reimbursable basis or otherwise, such assistance, as the Director deems necessary to carry out the functions and duties of the Office. Such assistance includes transfer of personnel with their consent and without prejudice to their position and rating; and 87 Stat. 994 (2) enter into, without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (41 U.S.C. 5), such contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, or other transactions as may be necessary in the conduct of the functions and duties of the Office, with any person (including a government entity). (d) Duties.— In addition to its duties, and responsibilities under other provisions of this Act, the Office shall— (1) study and evaluate the Secretary’s report on rail services in the region required under section 204(a) of this Act and submit its report thereon to the Association within 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act. The Office shall also solicit, study, and evaluate the views with respect to present and future rail service needs of the region from Governors of States within the region; mayors and chief executives of political subdivisions within such States: shippers; the Secretary of Defense; manufacturers. wholesalers, and retailers within the region; consumers of goods and products shipped by rail; and all other interested persons. The Office shall conduct public hearings to solicit comments on such report and to receive such views; (2) employ and utilize the services of attorneys and such other personnel as may be required in order properly to protect the interests of those communities and users of rail service which, for whatever reason, such as their size or location, might not otherwise be adequately rep resented in the course of the hearings and evaluations which the Office is required to conduct and perform under other provisions of this Act; (3) within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, determine and publish standards for determining the “revenue attributable to the rail properties”, the “avoidable costs of providing service”, and “a reasonable return on the value”, as those phrases are used in section 304 of this Act, after a proceeding in accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code; and (4) assist States and local and regional transportation agencies in making determinations whether to provide rail service continuation subsidies to maintain in operation particular rail properties by establishing criteria for determining whether particular rail properties are suitable for rail service continuation subsidies. Such criteria should include the following considerations: Rail properties are suitable if the cost of the required subsidy for such properties per year to the taxpayers is less than the cost of termination of rail service over such properties measured by increased fuel consumption and operational costs for alternative modes of transportation; the cost to the gross national product in terms of reduced output of goods and services; the cost of relocating or assisting through unemployment, retraining, and welfare benefits to individuals and firms adversely affected thereby; and the cost to the environment measured by damage caused by increased pollution.