The Surface Transportation Board (STB) https://www.stb.gov/ is a federal agency charged with regulating U.S. surface transportation modes with particular emphasis on rail.  It was established in 1996 by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) termination act with the ICC regulating transportation since 1887.  In 2015, STB became an independent agency https://www.stb.gov/wp-content/uploads/STB-Reauth-Act-of-2015.pdf separate from the  Department of Transportation with its executive membership being increased from 3 to 5 individuals. 

STB legal authorities can be found in 49 USC 13 et. seq. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title49/subtitle2/chapter13&edition=prelim and its regulatory authorities can be found at 49 CFR 1300-1333 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-X  Its offices include General Counsel, Managing Director, Proceedings, Environmental Analysis, Economics, Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance, and Passenger Rail.  STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis has compiled this Railroad Map depot resource https://stb.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html with historic and contemporary information.  

STB’s Fiscal Year 2025 staffing level was 152 personnel and its congressional budget request for that same period was $50,646,000. 

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.