WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will take a closer look at Norfolk Southern’s proposal to officially control Virginia terminal railroad Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line.
CSX had asked the board to review competition issues involving NS and NPBL.
CSX and NS have been locked in a legal dispute over the NPBL for six years. NS has controlled the 36-mile NPBL since 1982 by virtue of its 57% ownership stake; CSX owns the other 43% of the railroad that was created as a neutral switching carrier in 1896.
CSX contends that it should have direct access to the Virginia Port Authority’s Norfolk International Terminal via NPBL, which reaches the dockside terminal over NS trackage. CSX also alleges, among other things, that NS and NPBL set a $210 switching rate per car well that effectively prevents CSX from competing at NIT.
The federal antitrust case CSX filed in 2018 led to the 2022 discovery that regulators never approved Norfolk Southern’s control of the NPBL in 1982. The STB subsequently ordered NS to officially file for control of the 36-mile terminal switching line.
NS last month sought the required regulatory approval under STB’s rules for a minor transaction, arguing that that transaction would have no impact on competition. CSX cried foul, saying the application should be treated as a significant transaction due to issues surrounding access to NIT.
In a decision Friday, the board said it had determined that the NPBL case is a significant transaction that requires a more thorough review. “The Board cannot make a determination based on the current record that the transaction clearly would not have any anticompetitive effects,” the board said.
The decision orders NS to refile the application as a significant transaction.
The Virginia Ports Authority told the board that the matter deserved a more thorough review. “Virginia, and the customers it serves, would benefit from a comprehensive analysis of NPBL control by NSR rather than the simplistic claim that the Board should just formalize that longstanding control and effects thereof,” the port told the board.
CSX customer CMA CGM also asked the STB to take a closer look at the NPBL case.
“CMA CGM is concerned by NSR’s assertion that the proposed transaction clearly will not have any anticompetitive effects. It is important to CMA CGM that there is rail competition at the terminals that we serve. CMA CGM is concerned that NSR’s application may have the effect of preventing CSX Transportation, Inc. from becoming an effective rail competitor at Norfolk International Terminals,” the shipping line told the board.