How Long Does It Take Conrail To Process Protected Employees' Claims Under the 1973 Regional Rail Reorganization Act?

The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) grew out of a plan to restructure bankrupt railroads in the Northeast and Midwest into an economically viable rail system. Monthly displacement allowance claims were awarded to protected employees under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. The statute specified that the Railroad Retirement Board was to reimburse Conrail for the actual amounts paid to or for the benefit of protected employees from a separate U.S. Treasury account. A review was conducted to determine how long it takes Conrail to pay these monthly displacement allowance claims.

For Conrail as a whole, processing time ranged from 33 to 322 days. For claims processed by the New Haven field office, the range was from 26 to 170 days. The following factors had the greatest impact on claim processing time: the large number of claims processed each month, the delay in receipt of validated earnings statements, and the need for and difficulty of verifying all claims. Conrail officials said that the objectives of the claim processing procedure are to protect the government's investment and to pay displacement allowance claims as expeditiously as possible. The processing times were generally within the goals Conrail had established for claims processing, and Conrail has no plans to extensively modify its claim processing procedures.