[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 3 (Thursday, January 5, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 1794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-228]



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INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION
[Finance Docket No. 32628]


Minnesota Central Railroad Company; Acquisition and Operation 
Exemption; Rail Lines of MNVA Railroad, Inc.

    Minnesota Central Railroad Company (MNCR), a noncarrier,1 has 
filed a notice of exemption to acquire and operate approximately 146 
miles of MNVA Railroad, Inc.'s (MNVA) Hanley Falls-Minneapolis rail 
line between milepost 145.08, at Hanley Falls, MN, and milepost 0.0, at 
Minneapolis, MN.2 As part of this transaction MNCR will purchase 
MNVA's right, title and interest in certain incidental trackage rights 
agreements. MNCR and MNVA executed an agreement on November 4, 1994 for 
the purchase and operation of MNVA's Hanley Falls-Minneapolis rail 
line, along with its incidental trackage rights agreements, rail 
operating assets, and other contract rights. The parties intend to 
consummate the transaction on or after December 14, 1994, the effective 
date of the exemption.

    \1\MNCR is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp, a 
noncarrier holding company.
    \2\Originally established in 1983, MNVA operates over a former 
Chicago & North Western (C&NW) rail line between milepost 145.08 at 
Hanley Falls, Yellow Medicine County, MN, and milepost 51.3, at 
Norwood, Carver County, MN, under a contract for sale agreement with 
the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority. MNVA also has trackage 
rights over the C&NW from milepost 51.3, at Norwood to milepost 0.0, 
at Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN.
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    This proceeding is directly related to a concurrently filed notice 
of exemption in Finance Docket No. 32629, Pioneer Railcorp--Continuance 
in Control Exemption--Minnesota Central Railroad Company, wherein 
Pioneer Railcorp seeks to continue in control of MNCR when MNCR becomes 
a class III rail carrier upon consummation of the transaction described 
in this notice.3

    \3\Pioneer Railcorp already controls seven class III shortline 
rail carriers: West Jersey Railroad Co. (operating in New Jersey); 
Fort Smith Railroad Co. (operating in Arkansas); Alabama Railroad 
Co. (operating in Alabama); Mississippi Central Railroad Co. 
(operating in Mississippi and Tennessee); Alabama & Florida Railway 
Co. (operating in Alabama); Decatur Junction Railway Co. (operating 
in Illinois); and Vandalia Railroad Company, (operating in 
Illinois).
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    Any comments must be filed with the Commission and served on: 
Donald G. Avery, 1224 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
    This notice is filed under 49 CFR 1150.31. If the notice contains 
false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio. 
Petitions to revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10505(d) may be filed 
at any time. The filing of a petition to revoke will not automatically 
stay the transaction.

    Decided: December 15, 1994.

    By the Commission, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-228 Filed 1-4-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7035-01-P