Granite State Concrete Co. v. Surface Transportation Board

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit

No. 04-2551

GRANITE STATE CONCRETE CO., INC.;
MILFORD BENNINGTON RAILROAD CO., INC.,
Petitioners,

v.

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD,
Respondent.

BOSTON AND MAINE CORPORATION;
SPRINGFIELD TERMINAL RAILWAY COMPANY,
Intervenors.

ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF
THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

Before
Selya, Circuit Judge,
Hill,* Senior Circuit Judge,
and Lynch, Circuit Judge.

James E. Howard for petitioners.
Jamie P. Rennert, Attorney, Surface Transportation Board, with
whom R. Hewitt Pate, Assistant Attorney General, Makan Delrahim,
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Robert B. Nicholson, Attorney,
Department of Justice, John P. Fonte, Attorney, Department of
Justice, Ellen D. Hanson, General Counsel, and Craig M. Keats,
Deputy General Counsel, were on brief, for respondent.
Eric L. Hirschhorn, with whom Winston & Strawn LLP and Robert
B. Culliford, Guilford Rail System, were on brief, for intervenors.

July 29, 2005

*
Of the Eleventh Circuit, sitting by designation.
 LYNCH, Circuit Judge. At issue is an order of the

Surface Transportation Board (STB) finding that one railroad acted

reasonably in light of rail safety concerns when it imposed

restrictions upon another railroad operating on its lines.

The petitioners in this case are the railroad subjected

to restrictions, the Milford-Bennington Railroad Company (MBRR),

and its only customer, the Granite State Concrete Company (Granite

State). The respondent is the STB. The intervenors are the other

railroad which imposed those restrictions, the Boston and Maine

Corporation, and Springfield Terminal Railway Company, two

subsidiaries of Guilford Transportation Industries (collectively

referred to as "Guilford").

MBRR petitions for review of the STB's final order, which

rejected MBRR's claims 1) that Guilford unreasonably interfered

with MBRR's ability to service Granite State in violation of 49

U.S.C. § 10702, and 2) that Guilford failed to meet its own service

obligation to MBRR, in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 11101. The STB

found that restrictions were indeed imposed by Guilford but were

not unreasonable given safety concerns and the information

available to Guilford, and that Guilford did not fail to meet its

service obligations. Granite State Concrete Co., STB Docket No.

42083, 2004 WL 2138195 (served September 24, 2004) (Granite State

II).

-2-
 To prevail, MBRR must convince us that the STB's findings

and conclusions were "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of

discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." 5 U.S.C. §

706(2). We summarize MBRR's arguments and our responses. MBRR

argues that there were no plausible safety issues (untrue on the

face of the record); that the STB was required to ask another

agency to determine if there were any safety issues (not so); that

the STB failed to follow its own precedents (none were binding or

even applicable); that the STB's exuberant language in its order

establishes that the STB abandoned its usual reasonableness

standard of review for a new ad hoc "not necessarily

unreasonable/not so egregious" standard of review (while the STB

should be more precise, it did not apply the wrong standard of

review); that the STB ignored relevant facts (we are unconvinced);

and that the STB, having found petitioners had been harmed, was

required as a matter of law to award damages (there is no such

requirement). The STB order was far from arbitrary or capricious;

it was a sensible resolution of the case before it.

I.

We recount the facts as found by the STB and shown by the

record.

-3-
 Guilford1 owns the first 16.36 miles of a 34.9-mile rail

line running northwest from Nashua to Bennington, New Hampshire.

The other section of the line -- miles 16.36 to 34.9 -- is owned by

the state of New Hampshire and leased by petitioner MBRR.

Petitioner Granite State operates a stone quarry north of

Wilton, New Hampshire, and a stone processing center located

several miles to the south, in Milford, New Hampshire. Both

communities lie along the rail line. MBRR transports Granite

State's crushed stone from the Wilton quarry to the Milford

processing center; indeed, MBRR's only shipping customer is Granite

State. The first part of the shipping route lies on MBRR's section

of the line. The last three miles of the route, approximately, is

on Guilford's portion of the track. In order to serve Granite

State, MBRR has trackage rights which permit it to use Guilford's

line to finish the journey to Milford.

The problem here started with MBRR's decision in 2002 to

contract with a scenic railroad, Wilton Scenic Railroad (Wilton

Scenic), to run sight-seeing passenger trains over its own tracks

adjacent to the Guilford line. Those operations began on May 17,

2003. Even before these operations started, Guilford and MBRR were

at odds about them. As the STB found:

Wilton Scenic uses passenger cars that are
stored on [MBRR] track near the point where

1
Only two subsidiaries of Guilford Transportation Industries
are named parties before the STB and this court.

-4-
 the [MBRR] line and the [Guilford] line
connect. At that point, there is a steep
downhill grade that continues over the length
of the [Guilford] track. The existence of
this grade, along with the presence of Wilton
Scenic's passenger equipment, apparently
raised safety concerns for [Guilford]. After
[Guilford] and [MBRR] failed to reach a
meeting of the minds about how to deal with
those concerns, [Guilford] installed a
"derailment device," first on the [MBRR] side
of the point where the lines connect and
subsequently, after [MBRR] allegedly refused
to activate the first derailment device, on
the [Guilford] side of the point of
connection. The derailment device has the
effect of requiring [MBRR] to stop its trains
before they move onto [Guilford]'s line.

Granite State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at *1.2

Both sides had problems. Guilford, having examined the

site more closely, had concerns that the Wilton Scenic cars or

freight cars could break free and roll down the .75 to 1.5%

downhill grade on the track leading into the MBRR/Guilford junction

onto its tracks and cause injury and damage. After all, MBRR did

not continuously monitor the site and there had been an earlier

incident of a trespasser on MBRR's tracks causing an accident with

a small rail inspection car which had resulted in serious injury.

2
When a derail device is turned "on" or "closed," it causes
railroad cars passing over it to leave the tracks and derail. If
it is turned "off" or "opened," it has no effect on passing trains.
The basic idea in closing the derail device at the junction of the
MBRR and Guilford lines is to separate the two systems so that
trains from one system cannot enter the tracks of the other without
first stopping to open the derail device.

-5-
 MBRR also had a problem because the derailment device

required its train to stop, and the engineer to get out to trip and

reset the device each time the train passed over it. This in turn

slowed down the schedule,3 and this was an important issue because

Granite State had been given only limited hours to operate by the

town of Wilton.4 Further, Wilton Scenic thought the continued use

of the derailment device would be infeasible once it expanded its

operations from the weekends to weekdays, as it planned to do. It

appears that MBRR engaged in some self-help: MBRR left the device

open when its freight trains were running and sometimes even

removed this derail device without notifying Guilford. Guilford

first discovered that the derail device was not being used properly

on June 19, 2003, when Guilford conducted an inspection of the

MBRR/Guilford intersection in response to Wilton Scenic's request

for all three carriers to meet and come up with a plan to resolve

safety concerns.

Given MBRR's refusal to keep or use the derail device on

the MBRR side of the intersection (and its refusal to tell

Guilford), Guilford decided that to ensure safe operation, it

3
MBRR claimed that in recent years, as the physical conditions
on the Guilford line deteriorated, the speed limit was reduced from
ten miles per hour to five miles per hour, making further delays
costly.
4
Granite State uses a rock crushing machine at the Wilton
site. Due to noise, the town of Wilton limited its hours of
operation to between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.

-6-
needed to completely separate the operations of MBRR and Guilford

over the Guilford line. It implemented a number of measures to

accomplish this goal. Only one -- a limited time window for MBRR's

use of Guilford's line -- is the focus of the petitioners'

arguments to this court.

Starting on June 20, 2003, MBRR was given the window from

1 a.m. to 8 a.m. each day to operate its trains.5 Guilford

explains that the nighttime window for MBRR was designed to make

sure MBRR and Guilford trains and maintenance crews were never on

Guilford's tracks at the same time and to allow Guilford, the owner

of the track, to inspect and maintain the tracks during the day.

This operating window, combined with the hours limitation

on the Granite State quarry, reduced MBRR's service to only one

trip a day. MBRR believed that it could not operate its trains at

the Granite State quarry outside the quarry's normal operating

hours. Guilford was not initially aware of the permitting

restrictions on Granite State and, in any case, did not understand

that MBRR could not operate outside Granite State's operating

hours.

On June 27, 2003, MBRR and Granite State requested

informal assistance from the STB's Office of Compliance and

Enforcement in resolving this dispute. MBRR explained that the

5
Some parts of the record indicate that the window was from
midnight to 8 a.m. This discrepancy ultimately makes no difference
to the resolution of the case.

-7-
operating window was preventing it from effectively serving Granite

State (though service never ceased). Guilford disputed this claim

and offered to temporarily serve Granite State itself, pending

resolution of the dispute, based on the STB's determination of

"reasonable terms and conditions" for service. Granite State and

MBRR refused Guilford's offer.6

Once MBRR made clear why the 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. operating

window caused it difficulty in serving Granite State, Guilford, on

July 8, offered to change the operating window to between 4 a.m.

and 1 p.m. Guilford explained that this new window should allow

MBRR to make more round trips between the two Granite State

facilities each day, give Guilford enough time to serve its

customers, and still keep the operations of the two railroads

separate to address its safety concerns. On July 11, Guilford

informed MBRR that the new operating window from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m.

would go into effect starting July 15, 2003. MBRR concedes that

the new window allowed MBRR to complete two round trips on most

days.

6
In addition, MBRR claimed in its statements to the STB that
it had performed repairs on Guilford's tracks over the years due to
their poor condition. Guilford pointed out that if these repairs
were performed as MBRR claimed, they were unauthorized, and,
because Guilford was not informed that MBRR's crews were working on
the tracks, the repairs created another safety hazard and validated
Guilford's concerns that MBRR was not following safety rules and
standards.

-8-
 Still dissatisfied with the new window, MBRR and Granite

State filed a formal complaint with the STB on July 14, 2003,

claiming that Guilford's actions (poor maintenance, installation of

the derail device, instituting the operating window) caused MBRR

and Granite State to only be able to move a fraction of the gravel

that would be moved normally, and threatened to "effectively . . .

shut down" both MBRR and Granite State. MBRR and Granite State

asked for an emergency service order under 49 U.S.C. § 11123 and 49

C.F.R. § 1146.1 directing Guilford to "permit [MBRR] to serve

Granite State between 6:30 AM and 6:30 PM." MBRR and Granite State

also argued that the time restrictions constituted an unreasonable

rule or practice under 49 U.S.C. § 107027 and/or a breach of the

duty to provide service under 49 U.S.C. § 111018 and asked the STB

to enjoin Guilford from imposing such unreasonable time

restrictions in the future. Finally, MBRR and Granite State sought

damages.

The STB denied the request for an emergency service order

on September 15, 2003, noting that "substantial traffic continue[d]

to move." Granite State Concrete Co., STB Docket No. 42083, 2003

7
In relevant part, the statute provides that "[a] rail carrier
providing transportation or service . . . shall establish
reasonable . . . rules and practices on matters related to that
transportation or service." 49 U.S.C. § 10702.
8
In relevant part, the statute provides that "[a] rail carrier
. . . shall provide the transportation or service on reasonable
request." 49 U.S.C. § 11101.

-9-
WL 22121645, at *4, *6 (served September 15, 2003) (Granite State

I). But it also denied Guilford's motion to dismiss the complaint

and scheduled further proceedings to "consider whether [Guilford]

has acted to interfere unreasonably with [MBRR]'s ability to meet

its common carrier obligations." Id. at *4.

After that, Guilford took further ameliorative actions.

While the new operating window was in effect, Guilford performed

repairs on the tracks after MBRR was done with the line for the

day, and by October 29, 2003, had successfully rehabilitated the

track to increase the speed limit from five to ten miles per hour.

Guilford then discontinued the operating window on November 10,

2003, and replaced it with an "absolute block" system so that only

one train or maintenance crew at a time would be allowed within the

relevant portion of the line. This, in effect, continued to keep

the two railroads' operations completely apart.

Despite the improvements, MBRR and Granite State

continued to pursue the complaint before the STB, arguing, inter

alia, that Guilford's "absolute block" system was unreasonable and

unnecessary. Granite State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at *2-*3.

On September 24, 2004, the STB rendered its final

decision in this case. The STB denied MBRR's and Granite State's

complaint in its entirety. In doing so, the STB framed the

question before it as "whether actions taken by [Guilford] were

unreasonable." Id. at *2. It answered that question in the

-10-
negative, finding that "the complainants have not shown that the

measures taken by [Guilford] to address its concerns were

necessarily unreasonable." Id. It also concluded that it could

not find, based on the facts in the record, that Guilford

"unreasonably interfered with [MBRR]'s ability to carry out its

common carrier obligation to serve Granite State." Id. at *3. The

STB elaborated that "while some of [Guilford]'s actions made it

more difficult for [MBRR] to provide service, its actions did not

preclude rail service. In short, [MBRR] and Granite State have not

shown that [Guilford]'s actions were so egregious as to warrant a

finding that they violated the statute." Id.

The STB also determined that it should continue to keep

tabs on the situation. "[W]hile [Guilford's] conduct toward

complainants has not risen to the level of violating our statute,

the record of this conduct shows that Granite State does merit

immediate access to the Board's processes to protect the shipper

from the risk of market power abuse. In particular, complainants

should be able to seek prompt relief if [Guilford] were to impose

unworkable restrictions." Id. at *4. Accordingly, the STB refused

to exempt the traffic handled by MBRR for Granite State from its

regulations.9 Id.

9
Guilford had argued that the crushed rock shipping service
provided by MBRR was exempted from STB's regulations under a class
exemption. Granite State I, 2003 WL 22121645, at *5. Without
deciding whether the exemption applied, the STB revoked the
exemption to the extent necessary to allow the STB to consider the

-11-
 The petitioners then timely petitioned this court for

review of the STB's decision.

II.

Under the Administrative Procedure Act, a "reviewing

court shall . . . hold unlawful and set aside agency action,

findings, and conclusions found to be . . . arbitrary, capricious,

an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law."

5 U.S.C. § 706(2). The STB's decision is not arbitrary or

capricious if a "rational basis" for the decision exists in the

facts on the record. See Berkshire Scenic Ry. Museum, Inc. v. ICC,

52 F.3d 378, 381 (1st Cir. 1995). We must "consider whether the

decision was based on a consideration of the relevant factors and

whether there has been a clear error of judgment. . . . [But]

[t]he court is not empowered to substitute its judgment for that of

the agency." Bowman Transp., Inc. v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys.,

Inc., 419 U.S. 281, 285 (1974) (quoting Citizens to Preserve

Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416 (1971)).

A. STB's Use of the Improper Standard

The petitioners argue that the STB applied the wrong

legal standard in determining that Guilford's decision to impose an

operating window for MBRR's trains was reasonable under 49 U.S.C.

§§ 11101 and 10702. If that were true, we would remand the matter

merits of the dispute. Id.

-12-
to the agency and not reach the other issues, unless the error was

clearly harmless.

The proof of this erroneous legal standard, the

petitioners say, is in the language of the STB order itself, which

said at various times that the petitioners failed to show that

Guilford's actions were "necessarily unreasonable" or "so

egregious" as to constitute a violation of the statute. Granite

State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at *2-*3.

The correct standard, as counsel for the STB argues, is

"whether a particular service is adequate10 or a particular practice

is reasonable." Guilford had a common carrier obligation under 49

U.S.C. § 11101(a) to "provide the transportation or service on

reasonable request," and an obligation under 49 U.S.C. § 10702, as

to MBRR's trackage rights, to "establish reasonable . . . rules and

practices in matters related to that transportation or service."

The two statutory provisions at issue here do not provide precise

definitions for the operative standards: section 11101 does not

define what would constitute adequate service on reasonable

request, and section 10702 does not define what would be reasonable

rules and practices. The STB has been given broad discretion to

10
"Adequate service" (as opposed to just "service") is not in
the language of section 11101, but it is a part of the general
definition of common carrier obligations. See, e.g., Nat'l Grain
and Feed Ass'n v. United States, 5 F.3d 306, 311 (8th Cir. 1993);
Wales Transp., Inc. v. ICC, 728 F.2d 774, 780 n.9 (5th Cir. 1984);
see also 49 U.S.C. § 11121(a)(1) ("A rail carrier . . . shall
furnish safe and adequate car service. . . .").

-13-
conduct case-by-case fact-specific inquiries to give meaning to

these terms, which are not self-defining, in the wide variety of

factual circumstances encountered. See, e.g., Decatur County

Comm'rs v. Surface Transp. Bd., 308 F.3d 710, 716 (7th Cir. 2002)

(fact-specific inquiry in determining reasonableness of embargo

under section 11101); GS Roofing Prods. Co. v. Surface Transp. Bd.,

143 F.3d 387, 392 (8th Cir. 1998) (same).

On the facts alleged, the questions the STB had to

address under 49 U.S.C. §§ 11101 and 10702 were 1) whether Guilford

had imposed restrictions on MBRR's ability to service its customer;

2) whether, under section 10702, the restrictions were unreasonable

in light of the factual circumstances; and 3) whether, under

section 11101, the restrictions amounted to a violation of

Guilford's service obligations. As we discuss in the next section,

when we review the STB's analysis, we are convinced that despite

its rhetorical excess, the STB applied the correct standard. It

did say that the key question before it was "whether actions taken

by [Guilford] were unreasonable." Granite State II, 2004 WL

2138195, at *2. The STB determined that there were restrictions,

but concluded that they represented a reasonable accommodation

between Guilford's safety concerns and the petitioners' service

needs. Id. at *3. The STB examined the relevant factors and

grounded its decision in the record. But we urge the STB to be

more careful in its choice of language in the future.

-14-
 Another argument as to incorrect standards may be quickly

dispatched. The petitioners complain that the STB decision fails

to cite, much less differentiate, between the two statutory

sections at issue. But, since the claim alleging Guilford had

failed to meet its service obligations required a showing that

Guilford had unreasonably restricted petitioners' access, there was

no need for separate analysis. In fact, though, the STB did deal

separately with Guilford's common carrier obligation in

accommodating MBRR's requests for service and found no violation.

See id. And we know of no rule that an agency opinion must

specifically cite the statutes at issue.

The petitioners also argue that the STB used the wrong

standard because it failed to apply a balancing test, articulated

in Illinois Central Gulf R.R. Co., 363 I.C.C. 690, 695 (1980),11 for

evaluating "adequacy of service." The test reads as follows:

In determining whether a railroad has violated
its duty under 49 U.S.C. 11101 to provide
adequate service, we will apply a balancing
test similar to the test applied in
abandonment proceedings.12 We will weigh the

11
The STB was created in 1995 as a successor to the Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC). See Pejepscot Indus. Park, Inc. v.
Maine Cent. R. Co., 215 F.3d 195, 197 (1st Cir. 2000). For ease of
reference, we refer to the relevant agency as the "STB" throughout.
12
Illinois Central Gulf involved the consolidation of two
related proceedings: one was the abandonment application of the
carrier, and the other was a complaint brought by shippers against
the carrier for discontinuing its service on the line to be
abandoned. 363 I.C.C. at 690. The decision explained that the
balancing analysis in that case was informed by the factual

-15-
 public need for service over the line at the
level sought in the complaint and compare that
need with the burden on the carrier and on
interstate commerce of providing service at
that level. In applying this test we will
consider such factors as the traffic and
revenue potentials of the line, the
availability of alternative transportation,
the condition and type of track, and the costs
of putting the track into the condition
necessary for the sought service and of
maintaining the track in that condition. This
test can be applied to any line under
consideration in a complaint proceeding
regardless of whether the carrier considers
the line to be main line track or branch line
track.

Id. The petitioners assert that this test applies to all section

11101 cases, and read alone, this language does appears to be

sufficiently broad to do so.

However, as the STB's brief notes, the cases cited by the

petitioners which apply this test, including Illinois Central Gulf,

are all abandonment or embargo cases, which involve total

cessations of service, and turn on considerations which do not

govern this case. See, e.g., Bolen-Brunson-Bell, Inc., STB Finance

Docket No. 34236, 2003 WL 21108185 (served May 15, 2003); Bar Ale

Inc., STB Finance Docket No. 32821, 2001 WL 833717 (served July 20,

2001). There was no total cessation of service here, see Granite

State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at *3 (concluding that Guilford's time

determinations and conclusions applicable to abandonment. Id. at
703.

-16-
restrictions never "preclude[d] rail service"), and the petitioners

themselves concede as much.

The petitioners make much of the breadth of the language

in Illinois Central Gulf, insisting that the balancing test applies

to the adequacy of any specified "level" of service, including

decreases in level of service short of an embargo. However, the

petitioners have not cited to us any case in which the STB did in

fact apply the balancing test outside the total cessation of

service context, and we see no indication that the STB is required

to do so.13 In fact, the STB has not applied the Illinois Central

Gulf test in other cases arising under section 11101. See, e.g.,

Pejepscot Industrial Park, Inc., STB Finance Docket No. 33989, 2003

WL 21108198 (served May 15, 2003). Morever, as an examination of

the factors listed by the STB in Illinois Central Gulf

demonstrates, the test is not primarily concerned with the

reasonableness of a carrier's safety concerns or its responses to

those concerns, which are the key issues here.

13
The petitioners claim that Illinois Central Gulf itself is
a case which applied this test outside the abandonment context.
This is simply false. As noted above, Illinois Central Gulf
consolidated a complaint and an abandonment proceeding involving
one railroad line, and applied the same balancing analysis to both
questions. 363 I.C.C. at 703. In another case, Utah Transit Auth.
-- Line of Union Pacific R.R. Co., ICC Finance Docket No. 32186,
1993 WL 112128, at *3 (served April 14, 1993), which involved the
question of whether an operating window restriction related to the
sale of certain trackage rights by a carrier interfered materially
with that carrier's common carrier obligations, the agency
discussed the Illinois Central Gulf balancing test in dicta but
specifically did not apply it or rely on it.

-17-
 We deal in summary fashion with another argument

cursorily made by the petitioners. The petitioners suggest that

the STB also used the wrong standard because it misread the

language of 49 U.S.C. § 11101. Since the statute requires a

carrier to provide service upon "reasonable request," the

petitioners claim "the STB should have analyzed whether the

request of Granite State and [MBRR] for unrestricted access to the

Guilford Line was 'reasonable.'" In context, this argument is

self-defeating. First, there is nothing in the statute to indicate

that the reasonableness of the request is a kind of threshold

question which must be addressed in every case separately from the

adequacy of the service. Second, by the time the STB issued its

decision, the operating window had long been discontinued, and

Guilford did in fact respond to the petitioners' demands for

unrestricted access by first expanding and shifting the operating

window and then abolishing the window altogether. The Board, in

evaluating the reasonableness of Guilford's imposition on MBRR

during that time, necessarily took into account the reasonableness

of MBRR's requests in the first place. Third, if the STB had

conducted such analysis, it would have been of no help to the

petitioners. A finding that the request was reasonable would have

changed nothing in the subsequent analysis and a finding that the

request was not reasonable would have ended their claim.

-18-
 The petitioners also argue that the STB should have

performed the reasonableness analysis under section 10702 by

specific reference to the congressional goals in the Rail

Transportation Policy (RTP), codified at 49 U.S.C. § 10101. This

argument is without merit. The factors that the petitioners claim

should have been considered under the RTP -- that Guilford

allegedly had the market power to engage in predatory practices,14

that MBRR's service to Granite State promotes energy conservation

and public health,15 etc. -- have little to do with whether there

was a safety issue and the reasonableness of the response. To the

extent these considerations go to the petitioners' argument that

the safety concerns were pretextual, the STB considered the

arguments.

The petitioners finally argue that the STB could not

itself weigh the legitimacy of the safety concerns and that it was

required to refer the matter to the Federal Railroad Administration

14
In connection with this argument, we note that there is
evidence in the record that Granite State contacted Guilford at
some point to discuss the possibility that Granite State become
Guilford's customer. Guilford refused because, according to its
statements, it wanted to be clear that the time restrictions were
imposed out of concern for safety, not as a way to exert pressure
and take over MBRR's customer. We note also that the STB took into
account the risk of market power abuse in its decision. Granite
State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at *4.
15
This argument is premised in part on the fact that Granite
State is prohibited from shipping the crushed stone by truck, a
fact the STB acknowledged and considered. Granite State II, 2004
WL 2138195, at *4.

-19-
(FRA). See 49 U.S.C. § 103 (FRA has "duties and powers related to

railroad safety"). It is true the STB has sometimes sought the

benefit of the FRA's expertise. The petitioners cite National

Railroad Passenger Corporation -- Weight of Rail, 4 S.T.B. 416

(1999), where the STB itself sought the FRA's expertise to resolve

a technical dispute "over the appropriate weight [115-pound or 132-

pound] of continuous welded rail that must be installed on a

specified line in order to ensure that Amtrak will be able to

operate its trains safely at speeds of up to 79 miles per hour."

But the STB is not required to do so in every case. In this

dispute, the STB was not faced with the task of deciding technical

questions about railroad safety. The STB did not need to decide

whether there was compliance with FRA safety regulations or what

measures would be necessary to achieve compliance. The STB simply

had to determine whether, on the record, Guilford had good reasons

to be concerned about safety and whether its responses to those

concerns were reasonable. As the STB correctly phrased the

inquiry, "[I]t is not the Board's role to be the final arbiter of

safety issues. At its core, the question before us is whether

actions taken by [Guilford] were unreasonable." Granite State II,

2004 WL 2138195, at *2.

B. Were the STB's Conclusions Arbitrary or Capricious?

We start with the observation that the petitioners did

convince the STB that there were restrictions imposed on them. The

-20-
dispute is over whether the STB acted arbitrarily or capriciously

in concluding that, in context, Guilford had not acted unreasonably

in imposing these restrictions.

The petitioners' theme throughout their brief is that the

safety concerns were contrived and were used by Guilford to harm

MBRR, with which it had a long history of business animosity. Even

so, the STB's conclusion that there were safety concerns is

reasonable. A reasonable person concerned with rail safety could

easily have concluded that there were potential safety risks

created by the facts here which needed to be addressed: as a matter

of common sense, there was, at a minimum, the risk that the trains

would roll onto Guilford's property due to the downhill grade at

the point where MBRR's and Guilford's tracks meet. The addition of

a new carrier on the lines meant increased usage of the tracks and

raised the risks of collision. Wilton Scenic itself requested a

meeting to work on coordination of the three carriers' activities.

MBRR's failure to comply with the derailment device condition or to

tell Guilford it would not comply exacerbated the problem of

coordination.

The STB's conclusion that it was reasonable for Guilford

to impose a time window to address its safety concerns is equally

unassailable. It certainly was reasonable for Guilford to take

steps to separate out the operation of Wilton Scenic and MBRR from

its own operations, at least temporarily, while it considered the

-21-
safety implications and came up with a permanent response. Also,

as the STB's brief to us argues, "[m]aintenance work windows are

frequently used to close or restrict lines for several hours or

even days at a time." See Golden Cat Div. of Ralston Purina Co.,

STB Docket No. 41550, 1996 WL 197602, at *3 (served April 25, 1996)

(maintenance window of 6-8 hours per day). And exclusive operating

windows have been found to be consistent with common carrier

obligations under section 11101. See, e.g., N.J. Transit Corp. --

Certain Assets of Consolidated Rail Corp., 4 S.T.B. 512 (2000)

(exclusive operating window from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m., six days a

week, was adequate for freight carrier to meet its common carrier

obligations); Utah Transit Auth. -- Line of Union Pacific R.R.

Co., ICC Finance Docket No. 32186, 1993 WL 112128, at *3 (served

April 14, 1993) (operating window from midnight to 5 a.m., five

days a week, was adequate to meet the carrier's common carrier

obligations).

The STB supportably found that Guilford was not aware of

the local permitting restrictions on Granite State's hours of

operation and the consequent limitation on MBRR's hours of

operation. Granite State II, 2004 WL 2138195, at * 3. It was thus

not unreasonable for Guilford to initially impose an operating

window on MBRR from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. When Guilford learned of the

hardships created by the original window and the permitting

restrictions on Granite State, it eventually, but voluntarily,

-22-
changed the window. The STB found that the new window did allow

MBRR to provide "substantial service" to Granite State. Id. The

STB also noted that the new window was partly instituted to allow

Guilford to perform repairs on its tracks to address MBRR's

complaints of poor track conditions. After the repairs were done,

Guilford raised the speed limit on the line and eliminated the

operating window altogether to allow MBRR to "operate over the line

at any hour, as long as there is no conflict with ongoing

[Guilford] services." Id.

After reviewing the entire record and the actions taken

by both sides, the STB explained that it viewed the case as one

where "as [Granite State]'s needs became better known to it,

[Guilford] took steps to accommodate the shipper and [MBRR]." Id.

To be sure, the STB also, appropriately, chastised Guilford for not

responding as quickly as it could have. The STB stated that it

believed that Guilford "could have moved more quickly to be

responsive and work out arrangements that would meet Granite

State's needs while adequately protecting [Guilford]'s interests."

Id. At each step, the STB concluded, the restrictions and the

subsequent accommodations, when viewed together, were not

unreasonable in the circumstances. The STB concluded that

Guilford's actions did result in harm to Granite State, but the

harm was not the result of unreasonable, unjustified behavior.

-23-
There is ample evidence in the record to provide a rational basis

for this view of the case.

C. Remedy

The petitioners finally argue that since the STB found

they were harmed by the restrictions Guilford imposed, they were

entitled to damages. Carriers are liable for damages under 49

U.S.C. § 11704(b) only if there is a violation of the relevant

portions of Subtitle IV of Title 49 of the United States Code

governing interstate transportation by rail (49 U.S.C. §§ 10101 et

seq.). 49 U.S.C. § 11704(b) ("A rail carrier . . . is liable for

damages sustained by a person as a result of an act or omission of

that carrier in violation of [49 U.S.C. §§ 10101 et seq.]."). The

STB supportably found that Guilford had not violated sections 11101

and 10702, and so the petitioners have no claim for damages.

III.

The STB's decision is affirmed, and the petition for

judicial review is denied. Costs are to be taxed against the

petitioners.

-24-