The Surface Transportation Board has filed its annual fee update, increasing 87 of 135 fees and leaving 48 unchanged. The final rule prints November 12, 2026 as its effective date. Federal Register publication is scheduled for October 13.
These fees concern cases, applications and pleadings filed with the Board. They are not a change to the fare passengers pay for a train journey.
The filing category determines the charge
The schedule separates different proceedings rather than charging one flat rail fee. For example, an application involving construction of a rail line is listed at $116,500. A notice of exemption for rail construction under the specified regulation is listed at $2,600.
Those entries describe different filing routes. Their amounts should not be treated as interchangeable options for the same application without establishing which procedure applies.
The schedule also lists $34,500 for the specified application to abandon a rail line or discontinue service, with exceptions named in that entry. A notice of exempt abandonment or discontinuance is separately listed at $5,400.
How the update is calculated
The Board says its regulations provide for an annual update of the entire user-fee schedule. The general cost formula looks at salary costs, publication costs and overhead factors.
The rule does not say every fee rises. Its opening summary explicitly distinguishes the 87 increases from the 48 charges retained at their current levels. This report has not compared the prior schedule and therefore does not calculate percentage changes.
Read the applicable row
Anyone preparing a filing needs the category and conditions in the actual schedule, along with the effective date. The notice directs readers seeking more detail to the Board's separate full decision, available without charge through its website or by telephone.
The new schedule also sets rates for certain records-related services. It is a filing and service-charge update, rather than approval of any particular merger, construction project or abandonment.