NOR — formal complaints, including rate cases
A reading aid, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the record. Every statement carries a grade — [B] the Board’s own words, [R] the rule or statute, [N] the National Archives’ description of the series, [C] measured from this record, [?] unconfirmed. Nothing here says what any party argued or which side it is on. Figures are counted from the record as it stands.
What it is
“Formal complaint proceedings (including rate cases, unreasonable practice cases, and violations of the common carrier obligation).”[B] The caption is always complainant v. carrier.[C] The registry holds 4,292 NOR dockets.[C]
What is being asked for
A finding that a railroad’s rate, rule or practice is unlawful, and an order to fix it — most famously that a rate is unreasonable, which the Board may only decide where the carrier has market dominance over the traffic. Complaints are filed under 49 CFR Part 1111; the Board may also open an investigation on its own.[R]
The rate-case methods, in the Board’s words: stand-alone cost (SAC) — “a railroad may not charge a shipper more than it would cost to build and operate a hypothetical new, optimally efficient railroad … tailored to serve a selected traffic group that includes the complainant’s traffic”; the Three-Benchmark method for smaller cases, which “examines the R/VC ratio produced by the challenged rate in relation to three benchmark figures”; and, since 2022, Final Offer Rate Review, where “the Board will decide the rate by selecting either the complainant’s or the defendant’s final offer”, and a voluntary arbitration program, both “limited to rate disputes worth up to $4 million in relief over two years.”[B] (Ex Parte 646 (Sub-No. 1), Ex Parte 755, Ex Parte 765.)
What the Board can and cannot do
Prescribe a maximum reasonable rate, order reparations for past overcharges, order a practice stopped, order service under the common carrier obligation (49 U.S.C. §11101). It cannot award damages for things outside its statute, and it does not hear personal-injury, crossing or property claims. Amtrak’s on-time-performance complaints under 49 U.S.C. §24308(f) are also NOR cases (NOR 42175, the Sunset Limited).[C]
What happens next, typically
Complaint → answer → procedural schedule → discovery and evidence (much of it under protective order: 82 motions for a protective order in NOR dockets, every one on the register) → decision. Rate cases take years under SAC and months under the smaller-case methods. In the record: 1,170 decisions; reply (859), status report (831), motion/petition/request (412), request for extension of time (238), letter (180) dominate the filings.[C]
Every NOR proceeding on record, by number — including the ones this record holds nothing filed in. The count is on that page: quoting it here too is how two pages come to disagree.
Sources (all read 2026-08-26): the Board’s Tips for Searching STB Records (the one page on stb.gov that defines prefixes), About STB, Litigation Alternatives, Need Assistance?, Environmental Overview, Household Goods Tariff Guidance, Legal Resources, Major Railroad Mergers FAQs, press release PR-22-55; 49 CFR §1152.50, §1180.2, Parts 1150 and 1111; NARA records schedules N1-134-99-002 and DAA-0134-2013-0017; the search form’s own prefix and suffix lists. Permanent address docketyard.org/about/NOR. Something wrong? Corrections.