[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