Surface Transportation Board

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Open Government

The Surface Transportation Board adheres to the three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration that form the cornerstone of an open government. Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the federal government, across levels of government, and between the government and private institutions. Aligning with these principles, the STB’s website is a hub providing access to public data at the STB. The STB also has certain data sets available at Data.gov. In addition, the following guidelines and information advance the Board’s commitment to an open government.

Accessibility

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 794d)

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires all electronic and information technology (also referred to as information and communication technology or ICT) that is developed, procured, maintained, or used by a federal agency to be accessible to people with disabilities. Examples of ICT include web sites, telephones, multimedia devices, and copiers. Access available to individuals with disabilities must be comparable to access available to others. Standards for Section 508 compliance are developed and maintained by the United States Access Board. Further information about the Access Board’s standards and Section 508 generally may be found at www.section508.gov.

If you have questions about access to ICT, e-mail . For information about filing a complaint against the STB under Section 508, contact the STB’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office at (202) 245-0237 or e-mail .

Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. §§ 4151-57)

The Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) requires access to facilities that are designed, built, altered, or leased with Federal funds. The United States Access Board is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the ABA. The Access Board’s accessibility standards are available on its website at www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/buildings-and-sites/about-the-aba-standards, and information about filing a complaint may be found at www.access-board.gov/aba-enforcement/file-a-complaint.

Information Quality Guidelines

The Board is committed to ensuring and maximizing the quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity of all information it makes available to the public. To accomplish this goal, the Board has developed internal procedures and guidelines for reviewing and supporting the quality of the information it produces before it makes this information available. In addition, the Board has established a procedure by which members of the public may obtain correction of information made available by the agency that, nevertheless, fails to meet these standards. The procedures are as follows:

Simple Mistakes. A simple mistake may be reported by e-mailing the Board’s Information Quality Officer at , faxing (202) 245-0456, or calling (202) 245-0271. Such errors are usually corrected within 1 business day.

Complex Errors: To address more complex errors in information made available by the Board, the Board has adopted Information Quality Guidelines. To avoid frivolous requests, the Guidelines – which conform to recommendations issued by the Office of Management and Budget – require a requester to submit a written request to the Information Quality Officer. The request should identify the requester and explain how he/she is affected by the alleged informational error. A request for information correction is then considered by the Board office that generated the challenged information. That office has 60 days to respond to the requester.

If the requester is dissatisfied with that response, a written request for reconsideration may be addressed again to the Information Quality Officer. As a neutral senior staff person who neither originates nor collects the information, the Information Quality Officer reviews the request for reconsideration, discusses the initial response with the office that responded, and within 60 days decides whether to revise that response. The Information Quality Guidelines do not provide for further appeal to either the Board itself or to the courts.

For more detailed information about submitting a Request for Correction under the Board’s IQ Guidelines, see the STB’s Information Quality Guidelines.

Data Officer

Pursuant to the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529, on August 1, 2019, the Chairman designated Rachel D. Campbell, Managing Director, as the agency’s Chief Data Officer. Ms. Campbell can be reached at 202-245-0357 or . For more information on the Data Officer’s responsibility, click here.

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA)

The 21st Century IDEA requires each federal executive branch agency to provide a prioritized list of the agency’s “most-viewed or … otherwise important” public websites and digital services in compliance with section 3(a) of the law, and to provide an estimation of the cost and schedule to modernize those sites and services.

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD