[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52994-52995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25936]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board \1\
[STB Finance Docket No. 33136]


Canadian Pacific Limited, Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and 
Napierville Junction Railroad Company--Corporate Family Transaction 
Exemption--St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway Company Limited

    Canadian Pacific Limited (CPL), Canadian Pacific Railway Company 
(CP Rail),\2\ Napierville Junction Railroad Company (NJR), and St. 
Lawrence & Hudson Railway Company Limited (StL&HR) have jointly filed a 
verified notice of exemption.
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    \1\ The ICC Termination Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-88, 109 
Stat. 803, which was enacted on December 29, 1995, and took effect 
on January 1, 1996, abolished the Interstate Commerce Commission and 
transferred certain functions to the Surface Transportation Board 
(Board). This notice relates to functions that are subject to Board 
jurisdiction pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 11323-24.
    \2\ On July 4, 1996, Canadian Pacific Limited changed its name 
to Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and a new noncarrier holding 
company, Canadian Pacific Limited, was created.
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    CP Rail will transfer its interest in certain U.S. rail assets to 
StL&HR, a newly-created subsidiary of CP Rail, as follows:
    (1) Its interest in CNCP-Niagara Detroit, an Ontario partnership, 
which owns all of the stock of Detroit River Tunnel Company (DRTC) and 
Niagara River Bridge Company (NRBC).\3\ StL&HR will acquire trackage 
rights from DRTC and NRBC: (a) Through the Detroit River Tunnel (a 
railway tunnel connecting Detroit, MI, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada) 
from the international border (mid-tunnel) to the end of the connecting 
track at milepost 228.2 in Detroit, a distance of approximately 2 
miles, and (b) over the Suspension Bridge (a railway bridge between 
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and Niagara Falls, NY, between the 
international border (milepost 0.2) and the end of the access track at 
milepost 0.0 in Niagara Falls, NY, a distance of 0.2 miles. The 
trackage rights also include the short segments of connecting track at 
both the Detroit River Tunnel and the Suspension Bridge.
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    \3\ See Canadian National Railway Company and Canadian Pacific 
Limited--Acquisition--Interests of Consolidated Rail Corporation in 
Canada Southern Railway and Detroit River Tunnel Company, Finance 
Docket No. 30387 (ICC served Sept. 4, 1984).
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    (2) StL&HR will acquire a leasehold interest in the rail properties 
of NJR,\4\ a 1.1-mile segment of track on the U.S. side of the 
international border near Rouses Point, NY, where NJR connects with the 
lines of the Delaware and Hudson Railway Company, Inc. (DHRC).\5\
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    \4\ CP Rail obtained authorization to acquire NJR in Canadian 
Pacific Limited, et al.--Purchase and Trackage Rights--Delaware & 
Hudson Railway Company, Finance Docket No. 31700, 7 I.C.C.2d 85.
    \5\ DHRC is a wholly owned subsidiary of CP Rail operating as a 
rail carrier in the U.S.
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    (3) StL&HR will acquire incidental overhead trackage rights, by 
assignment of existing CP Rail trackage rights agreements, to reach 
connections with U.S. carriers in the Detroit terminal area as follows: 
(a) Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) trackage between the end of 
the Detroit River Tunnel connecting track (Conrail milepost 2.02 Main 
Line) and Conrail milepost 9.3, Detroit Line, including the Delray 
Interlocking at milepost 5.3, Detroit Line, and between milepost 2.02 
and milepost 3.1, Mackinaw Branch, a total distance of approximate 8.4 
miles; (b) The Norfolk and Western Railway Company (NW) line between 
the Delray Interlocking (NW milepost 4.4) and Oakwood Yard (NW milepost 
8.87), a distance of approximately 4.47 miles; and (c) The CSX 
Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) line between Delray Interlocking (CSXT 
milepost 4.5) and Rougemere Yard (CSXT milepost 6.6), a distance of 
approximately 2.1 miles.
    The transaction was expected to be consummated on or after October 
1,

[[Page 52995]]

1996. Upon consummation of this transaction, StL&HR will become a rail 
carrier.
    The proposed transaction is part of an internal reorganization of 
CP Rail's railroad operations in the eastern United States and eastern 
Canada. It is designed to improve service and financial performance by 
realigning CP Rail's railroad operating units and by consolidating 
duplicate functions, primarily at the managerial and administrative 
levels.
    This is a transaction within a corporate family of the type 
specifically exempted from prior review and approval under 49 CFR 
1180.2(d)(3). The parties state that the transaction will not result in 
adverse changes in service levels, significant operational changes, or 
a change in the competitive balance with carriers outside the CPL 
corporate family.
    As conditions to this exemption, as applicable to the continuance 
in control, any employees affected by the transaction will be protected 
under New York Dock Ry.--Control--Brooklyn Eastern Dist., 360 I.C.C. 60 
(1979); as applicable to the trackage rights, any employees affected by 
the transaction will be protected by the conditions imposed in Norfolk 
and Western Ry. Co.--Trackage Rights--BN, 354 I.C.C. 605 (1978), as 
modified in Mendocino Coast Ry., Inc.--Lease and Operate, 360 I.C.C. 
653 (1980); as applicable to the lease transaction, any employee 
affected by the transaction will be protected by the conditions imposed 
in Mendocino Coast Ry., Inc.--Lease and Operate, 354 I.C.C. 732 (1978), 
as modified in Mendocino Coast Ry., Inc.--Lease and Operate, 360 I.C.C. 
653 (1980), aff'd sub nom. RLEA v. ICC, 675 F.2d 1248 (D.C. Cir. 1982).
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio. Petitions to reopen the proceeding to 
revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) may be filed at any time. 
The filing of a petition to revoke will not automatically stay the 
transaction.
    An original and 10 copies of all pleadings, referring to STB 
Finance Docket No. 33136, must be filed with the Surface Transportation 
Board, Office of the Secretary, Case Control Branch, 1201 Constitution 
Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20423. In addition, a copy of each 
pleading must be served on Terence M. Hynes, Sidley & Austin, 1722 Eye 
Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006.

    Decided: October 2, 1996.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-25936 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-00-P