WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway has asked federal regulators to dismiss a common-carrier complaint that a Missouri-based utility has filed regarding the railroad’s service to a pair of its coal-fired power plants in 2022.
Kansas City-based Evergy told the Surface Transportation Board that BNSF provided inadequate service to its Iatan Generating Station near Iatan, Mo., and the Lawrence Energy Center near Lawrence, Kan.
Low coal stockpiles at the plants forced the utility to conserve coal that otherwise could have been used to meet market demands, Evergy says. The utility claims that a combination of service failures and the reduction in the number of coal train sets resulted in the loss of $20 million in potential revenue as well as $35 million in additional electricity generating costs.
Evergy in January asked the board to issue a declaratory order specifying the scope of BNSF’s common carrier obligations, as well as to require the railroad to accept a sufficient number of Evergy’s private coal gondolas that would meet the power plants’ transportation needs. Evergy also is seeking damages.
BNSF and Evergy subsequently sought to negotiate a settlement. But those talks failed, and BNSF last week sought to have the case dismissed.
BNSF argues that the utility’s request for a “forward looking declaration by the Board fixing BNSF’s common carrier obligation to accept Every’s private train sets into service regardless of existing circumstances does not provide a basis for Board investigation or action.”
There is currently no dispute between BNSF and Evergy regarding the railroad’s current service levels or the use of Evergy’s train sets, BNSF says. “It is particularly inappropriate to use the STB’s declaratory order authority to establish standards governing a common carrier’s future service obligations, given that those obligations are fundamentally driven by specific facts and circumstances existing at the time of the future service request,” BNSF argues.
BNSF attributed the 2022 service problems to widespread crew shortages that affected the big four U.S. Class I railroads, as well as record snowfall in the Powder River Basin that set back service recovery efforts. BNSF limited the size of customer car fleets as part of an effort to reduce congestion.
BNSF also said Evergy had problems with unloading equipment at one of the power plants, which limited its ability to handle incoming unit trains.
If I were Evergy I would continue their suit. BNSF is the one that caused the crew shortage and they knew they had to supply Evergy’s coal needs as they had been doing. BNSF knew it had common carrier obligations too. They are trying to pass on their failures to someone else.
Furlough the crews then you have to pay the price later.