79 FR 149 pgs. 45232-45233 - Central of Georgia Railroad Company—Abandonment Exemption—in Montgomery County, Ala.; CSX Transportation, Inc.—Discontinuance of Service Exemption—in Montgomery County, Ala.
Type: NOTICEVolume: 79Number: 149Pages: 45232 - 45233
Pages: 45232, 45233Docket number: [Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 278X); Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 728X)]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2014-18337 Filed 8-1-14; 8:45 am]
Agency: Transportation Department
Sub Agency: Surface Transportation Board
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
[Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 278X); Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 728X)]
Central of Georgia Railroad Company-Abandonment Exemption-in Montgomery County, Ala.; CSX Transportation, Inc.-Discontinuance of Service Exemption-in Montgomery County, Ala.
Central of Georgia Railroad Company (CGA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway Company, and CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) (collectively, applicants) have jointly filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F- Exempt Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service for (1) CGA to abandon a total of 2.12 miles of CGA railroad line extending between Milepost H 411.50 and Milepost H 413.62, in the City of Montgomery, Montgomery County, Ala. (the Line); and (2) CSXT to discontinue service over approximately 0.55 miles of the Line, between Milepost H 413.07 and Milepost H 413.62. The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Codes 36104 and 36107.
Applicants have certified that (1) no local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) no overhead traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years, and if there were any overhead traffic, it could be rerouted over other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or by a state or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the Line either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c) (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.11 (transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met.
As a condition to these exemptions, any employee adversely affected by the abandonment or discontinuance shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad-Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed.
Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received, these exemptions will be effective on September 3, 2014, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,1formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),2and trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by August 14, 2014. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by August 25, 2014, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001.
Footnotes:
1 The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C. 2d 377 (1989). Any request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate action before the exemption's effective date.
2 Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is currently set at $1,600. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to applicants' representatives: William A. Mullins (representing CGA), Baker & Miller PLLC, 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037; and Louis E. Gitomer (representing CSXT), Law Offices of Louis E. Gitomer, LLC, 600 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204.
If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemptions are void ab initio.
[top] Applicants have filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment and discontinuance on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by August 8, 2014. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to OEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or by calling OEA at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. Comments on environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days
Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), CGA shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If consummation has not been effected by CGA's filing of a notice of consummation by August 4, 2015, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire.
Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at " www.stb.dot.gov. "
Decided: July 30, 2014.
By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of Proceedings.
Derrick A. Gardner,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2014-18337 Filed 8-1-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P