
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 49USC10701]

 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
                 SUBTITLE IV--INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION
 
                              PART A--RAIL
 
                           CHAPTER 107--RATES
 
                     SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL AUTHORITY
 
Sec. 10701. Standards for rates, classifications, through 
        routes, rules, and practices
        
    (a) A through route established by a rail carrier must be 
reasonable. Divisions of joint rates by rail carriers must be made 
without unreasonable discrimination against a participating carrier and 
must be reasonable.
    (b) A rail carrier providing transportation subject to the 
jurisdiction of the Board under this part may not discriminate in its 
rates against a connecting line of another rail carrier providing 
transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this part 
or unreasonably discriminate against that line in the distribution of 
traffic that is not routed specifically by the shipper.
    (c) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section and unless 
a rate is prohibited by a provision of this part, a rail carrier 
providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under 
this part may establish any rate for transportation or other service 
provided by the rail carrier.
    (d)(1) If the Board determines, under section 10707 of this title, 
that a rail carrier has market dominance over the transportation to 
which a particular rate applies, the rate established by such carrier 
for such transportation must be reasonable.
    (2) In determining whether a rate established by a rail carrier is 
reasonable for purposes of this section, the Board shall give due 
consideration to--
        (A) the amount of traffic which is transported at revenues which 
    do not contribute to going concern value and the efforts made to 
    minimize such traffic;
        (B) the amount of traffic which contributes only marginally to 
    fixed costs and the extent to which, if any, rates on such traffic 
    can be changed to maximize the revenues from such traffic; and
        (C) the carrier's mix of rail traffic to determine whether one 
    commodity is paying an unreasonable share of the carrier's overall 
    revenues,

recognizing the policy of this part that rail carriers shall earn 
adequate revenues, as established by the Board under section 10704(a)(2) 
of this title.
    (3) The Board shall, within one year after January 1, 1996, complete 
the pending Interstate Commerce Commission non-coal rate guidelines 
proceeding to establish a simplified and expedited method for 
determining the reasonableness of challenged rail rates in those cases 
in which a full stand-alone cost presentation is too costly, given the 
value of the case.

(Added Pub. L. 104-88, title I, Sec. 102(a), Dec. 29, 1995, 109 Stat. 
809; amended Pub. L. 104-287, Sec. 5(22), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 
3390.)


                            Prior Provisions

    Prior sections 10701 and 10701a were omitted in the general 
amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104-88, Sec. 102(a).
    Section 10701, Pub. L. 95-473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1371; Pub. L. 
96-296, Sec. 13(a), July 1, 1980, 94 Stat. 803; Pub. L. 96-448, title 
II, Sec. 201(b)(1), (2), Oct. 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 1899, 1900; Pub. L. 97-
261, Sec. 9(a), Sept. 20, 1982, 96 Stat. 1109; Pub. L. 103-180, 
Sec. 2(a), (b), (g), Dec. 3, 1993, 107 Stat. 2044, 2047, 2049, related 
to standards for rates, classifications, through routes, rules, and 
practices. See sections 10701, 13701, 13709, and 15501 of this title.
    Section 10701a, added Pub. L. 96-448, title II, Sec. 201(a), Oct. 
14, 1980, 94 Stat. 1898; amended Pub. L. 103-272, Sec. 4(j)(19), July 5, 
1994, 108 Stat. 1369, related to standards for rates for rail carriers. 
See section 10701 of this title.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (d)(3). Pub. L. 104-287 substituted ``January 1, 
1996'' for ``the effective date of this paragraph''.


                             Effective Date

    Chapter effective Jan. 1, 1996, except as otherwise provided in Pub. 
L. 104-88, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104-88, set out as a note under 
section 701 of this title.

               Abolition of Interstate Commerce Commission

    Interstate Commerce Commission abolished by section 101 of Pub. L. 
104-88, set out as a note under section 701 of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 10704, 10705 of this title.
