[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 159 (Tuesday, August 18, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44302-44303]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22021]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board
[STB Finance Docket No. 33626]


Union Pacific Railroad Company and Central Kansas Railway--Joint 
Relocation Project Exemption--in Wichita, Sedgwick County, KS

    Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has filed a notice of exemption 
under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(5) to relocate lines of railroad in the City of 
Wichita,

[[Page 44303]]

Sedgwick County, KS. UP is a Class I rail carrier and Central Kansas 
Railway Limited Liability Company (CKR) is a limited liability rail 
carrier. The proposed transaction was expected to be consummated on or 
shortly after July 29, 1998, the effective date of the exemption.
    The joint relocation project involves: (1) CKR's grant to UP of 
overhead trackage rights on CKR's line extending from South Junction 
westward to the line of Kansas Southwestern Railway (KSR): (a) over a 
portion of CKR's Wichita Subdivision from milepost 0.20 near South 
Junction to CKR's milepost 3.45 (which connects with KSR's Hardtner 
Industrial Lead at milepost 487.80) and (b) over CKR's track from 
milepost 211.49 (which is also milepost 2.80 on CKR's Wichita 
Subdivision) to milepost 212.44 (which also connects with KSR's 
Hardtner Industrial Lead at milepost 488.8); and (2) UP's incidental 
abandonment of, and discontinuance of operations over, a parallel 
portion of UP's Hutchinson Industrial Lead between milepost 483.44 and 
milepost 485.94 at Hardtner Junction, a distance of 2.50 miles in 
Wichita. The trackage rights to be abandoned includes the non-agency 
station of Hardtner Junction at milepost 485.94.
    The proposed joint relocation project will not disrupt service to 
shippers. The notice states that the project is to remove long freight 
trains from UP's trackage and to eliminate approximately 24 grade 
crossings in Wichita. It also states that the project will facilitate 
implementation of part of an agreement which has been reached between 
UP, the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County in a signed Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU), filed with the Board on June 26, 1998, and 
granted.1
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    \1\ See Union Pacific Corporation, Union Pacific Railroad 
Company, and Missouri Pacific Railroad Company--Control and Merger--
Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. Southern Pacific Transportation 
Company, St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, SPCSL Corp., and 
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, Finance Docket 
No. 32760 [Decision No. 80] (STB served July 8, 1998).
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    The Board will exercise jurisdiction over the abandonment or 
construction components of a relocation project, and require separate 
approval or exemption, only where the removal of track affects service 
to shippers or the construction of new track involves expansion into a 
new territory. See City of Detroit versus Canadian National Ry. Co., et 
al., 9 I.C.C.2d 1208 (1993), aff'd sub nom., Detroit/Wayne County Port 
Authority versus ICC, 59 F.3d 1314 (D.C. Cir. 1995). Line relocation 
projects may embrace trackage rights transactions such as the one 
involved here. See D.T.&I.R.--Trackage Rights, 363 I.CC. 878 (1981). 
Under these standards, the incidental abandonment, construction, and 
trackage rights components require no separate approval or exemption 
when the relocation project, as here, will not disrupt service to 
shippers and thus qualifies for the class exemption at 49 CFR 
1180.2(d)(5).
    As a condition to this exemption, any employees affected by the 
trackage rights 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).
    If the notice contains false or misleading information, the 
exemption is void ab initio. Petitions 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. 33626, must be filed with the Surface Transportation 
Board, Office of the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K Street, N.W., 
Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading must be 
served on Joseph D. Anthofer, 1416 Dodge Street, #830, Omaha, NE 68179.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our website at 
``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.''

    Decided: August 10, 1998.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-22021 Filed 8-17-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-00-P