rail services planning office

rail services planning office Sec. 309. Section 205 of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (45 U.S.C. 715) is amended to read as follows: “rail services planning office “Sec. 205. (a) Establishment.—The Rail Services Planning Office is established as an office in the Commission. The Office shall function continuously pursuant to the provisions of this Act, and shall be administered by a director. “(b) Director.—The Director of the Office shall be appointed for a term of 6 years by the Chairman of the Commission with the concurrence of 5 members of the Commission. He shall be appointed and compensated, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States 90 STAT. 58Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, classification, and General Schedule pay rates, at a rate not in excess of the maximum rate for GS–18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of such title. 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. “(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 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). 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. “(d) Duties.—In addition to its duties and responsibilities under other provisions of this Act and under the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, the Office shall— “(1) assist the Commission in studying and evaluating any proposal, submitted to the Commission pursuant to section 5(2) or (3) or the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. 5 (2) or (3)), for a merger, consolidation, unification or coordination project, joint use of tracks or other facilities, or acquisition or sale of assets, which involves any common carrier by railroad subject to part I of such Act; “(2) assist the Commission in developing, with respect to economic regulation of transportation, policies which are likely to result in a more competitive, energy-efficient, and coordinated transportation system which utilizes each mode of transportation to its maximum advantage to meet the transportation service needs of the Nation; “(3) 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, with such criteria to 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 (A) the cost of termination of rail service over such properties measured by increased fuel consumption and operational costs for alternative modes of transportation, (B) the cost to the gross national product in terms of reduced output of goods and services, (C) the cost of relocating or assisting through unemployment, retraining, and welfare benefits to individuals and firms adversely affected thereby, and (D) the cost to the environment measured by damage caused by increased pollution; “(4) conduct an ongoing analysis of the national rail transportation needs, evaluate the policies, plans, and programs of the 90 STAT. 59Commission on the basis of such analysis, and advise the Commission of the results of such evaluation; “(5) within 180 days after the date of enactment of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, issue additional regulations, after conducting a proceeding in accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code, which contain— “(A) standards for the computation of subsidies for rail passenger service (except passenger service compensation disputes subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission under section 402(a) of the Rail Passenger Service Act (45 U.S.C. 562(a))), which are consistent with the compensation principles described in the final system plan and which avoid cross subsidization among commuter, intercity, and freight rail services; and “(B) standards for the determination of emergency commuter rail passenger service operating payments pursuant to section 17 of the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964; “(6) determine and publish, and from time to time revise and reissue, standards for determining (A) the ‘revenue attributable to the rail properties’. (B) the ‘avoidable costs of providing service’, (C) a ‘reasonable return on the value,’and (D) a ‘reasonable management fee’, 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 “(7) 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 represented in the course of the reorganization process under this Act, until the assumption of such duties by the Office of Rail Public Counsel pursuant to section 27(4) (d) of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. 27(4) (d)). “(e) Additional Duties.— (1) Within 270 days after the date of enactment of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, the Office shall issue additional regulations, after conducting a proceeding in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code. Such regulations shall (A) develop an accounting system which will permit the collection and publication by the Corporation or by profitable railroads providing service over lines scheduled for abandonment, of information necessary for an accurate determination of the attributable revenues, avoidable costs, and operations of light density lines as operating and economic units, and (B) determine the ‘avoidable costs of providing rail freight service’, as that phrase is used insection la(6) (a) (ii) (A) of the Interstate Commerce Act. The Office may, at any time, revise and republish the standards and regulations required by this section to incorporate changes made necessary by the accounting system developed pursuant to this subsection. “(2) Upon the request of a State in the region, within 90 days after the date of enactment of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, the Office shall prepare and publish an evaluation of the economic viability of any or all light density lines within such State which are not designated for inclusion in the final system plan. Such an evaluation shall include an analysis of the actions which may be necessary to make the operation of rail services over any such line economical. The results of each such evaluation shall be trans-90 STAT. 60mitted to the requesting State and published in the Federal Register, not later than 1 year after the date such request is received by the Office.”