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49 C.F.R. § 245.201   User fee calculation.

Title 49 - Transportation

Title 49: Transportation
PART 245—RAILROAD USER FEES
Subpart C—User Fee Calculation

§ 245.201   User fee calculation.

(a) The fee to be paid by each railroad shall be determined as follows:

(1) After March 15th of each year (August 1st for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1992), FRA will tabulate the total train miles, total employee hours, and total road miles for railroads subject to this part for the preceding calendar year. FRA's calculations will be based on the information supplied by railroads under §245.101 hereof, and other reports and submissions which railroads are required to make to FRA under applicable regulations (i.e. 49 CFR parts 225 and 228). At the same time, FRA will calculate the total cost of administering the Safety Act for the current fiscal year (other than activities described in section 202(a)(2) thereof) which will represent the total amount of user fees to be collected.

(2) Using tabulations of total train miles, total employee hours, total road miles, and the total cost of administering the Safety Act, FRA will calculate a railroad's user fee assessment as follows:

(i) The assessment rate per train mile will be calculated by multiplying the total costs of administering the Safety Act by 0.55 and then dividing this amount (i.e., fifty-five percent of the total amount to be collected) by the total number of train miles reported to the FRA for the previous calendar year. The result will be the railroad user fee assessment rate per train mile for the current fiscal year.

(ii) The assessment rate per employee hour will be calculated by multiplying the total costs of administering the Safety Act by 0.1 and then dividing this amount (i.e., 10 percent of the total amount to be collected) by the total number of employee hours reported to the FRA for the previous calendar year. The result will be the railroad user fee rate per employee hour for the fiscal year.

(iii) The assessment rate per road mile will be calculated in three steps. First, FRA will determine a preliminary assessment rate per road mile by multiplying the total costs of administering the Safety Act by 0.35 and dividing this amount (i.e., thirty-five percent of the total amount to be collected) by the total road miles reported to FRA for the previous calendar year. Second, FRA will adjust this preliminary rate per road mile for each light density railroad by multiplying the preliminary rate by the appropriate scaling factor identified in §245.5(h). The result will be a reduced assessment rate per road mile for light density railroads. Third, FRA will adjust the preliminary assessment rate per road mile for all railroads except light density railroads by adding to their preliminary rate an incremental amount reflecting the reallocation of the relief provided to light density railroads under step 2 using the sliding scale. The incremental amount is calculated by subtracting (A) the total amount to be collected from light density railroads after application of the sliding scale from (B) the total amount that would have been collected from light density railroads using the preliminary assessment rate and developed under step 1 and (C) dividing the resulting amount by the total road miles reported to FRA by all railroads except light density railroads. The incremental amount is then added to the preliminary assessment rate for all railroads except light density railroads to derive the assessment rate per road mile for all railroads except light density railroads. The results will be a modified assessment rate per road mile for light density railroads qualifying under step 2 and a general assessment rate applicable to all other railroads. In those cases where the computed fee is less than the defined minimum, the net increase attributable to the application of the minimum standard is not included in the reallocation process under step 3 and is instead added to total collections.

(b) The user fee to be paid by each covered railroad is the greater of $500.00 or the sum of the railroad's train miles times the assessment rate per train mile, the railroad's employee hours times the assessment rate per employee hour, and the railroad's road miles times the applicable assessment rate per road mile.