[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 222 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65113-65114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28753]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 34428]


Port Authority of New York and New Jersey--Petition for 
Declaratory Order

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Institution of declaratory order proceeding; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board is instituting a declaratory 
order proceeding and requesting comments on the petition of the Port 
Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) for an order 
declaring that the construction by petitioner of a connector between 
the line of the former Staten Island Railroad (SIRR) and the rail lines 
owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS), CSX 
Transportation, Inc. (CSX), and Consolidated Rail Corporation 
(Conrail), and any operation over this newly constructed connector, do 
not constitute the extension of a line of railroad and require no Board 
approval.

DATES: Any interested person may file with the Board written comments 
concerning the Port Authority's petition by December 18, 2003. Replies 
will be due on January 7, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send an original and 10 copies of any comments referring to 
STB Finance Docket No. 34428 to: Surface Transportation Board, 1925 K 
Street,

[[Page 65114]]

NW., Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, send one copy of any 
comments to petitioner's representative: Paul M. Donovan, LaRoe, Winn, 
Moerman & Donovan, 4135 Parkglen Court, NW., Washington, DC 20007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph H. Dettmar, (202) 565-1600. 
[Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: (800) 877-8339.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By petition filed on October 22, 2003, the 
Port Authority asks the Board to issue an order declaring that the 
construction and operation of a connector between the SIRR line and the 
Chemical Coast Secondary Line \1\ will not constitute an extension of a 
line of railroad nor the construction of an additional line of railroad 
that would require Board approval.
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    \1\ Conrail owns the Chemical Coast Secondary Line and, as a 
result of that ownership, has the right to operate over it. 
Moreover, because this line is part of the North Jersey Shared 
Assets Area, CSX and NS also have the right to operate over it. See 
CSX Corp. et al.--Control--Conrail Inc. et al., 3 S.T.B. 196, 228 
(1998).
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    The Port Authority states that the SIRR was abandoned in 1990 and 
1991, and that the Port Authority and the City of New York \2\ have 
acquired the rail lines necessary to revitalize the SIRR. Petitioner 
further indicates that the revitalized SIRR will not extend west of the 
New Jersey Turnpike, but will connect to the Chemical Coast Secondary 
Line by way of the newly constructed, far more efficient connector.
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    \2\ According to the Port Authority, this construction project, 
called the Staten Island Railroad Reactivation Project, is one part 
of a plan for reactivation of the operations of the former SIRR. 
Petitioner indicates that it will soon file a notice of a modified 
certificate of public convenience and necessity pursuant to 49 CFR 
1150.21-.24, advising of the designation of CSX and NS as the 
modified certificate operators of certain lines of the SIRR that had 
been abandoned and then acquired by the City of New York and the 
State of New Jersey. Also, on October 29, 2003, the New York City 
Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), which manages the New 
York properties of the former SIRR on behalf of New York City, filed 
a petition for a declaratory order with respect to the proposed 
construction of switching, industrial lead, and spur track on the 
Travis Branch of the former SIRR.
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    The Port Authority states that the connector will consist of a new 
single-track rail alignment approximately 3,650 feet long.\3\ The Port 
Authority asserts that this connector will replace the various other 
connections that have existed between the SIRR and NS, CSX, and Conrail 
lines at Cranford, Linden, and Bayway, NJ, and the connections provided 
by car float between St. George and Port Ivory, NY, and Port Newark, 
NJ.\4\
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    \3\ The project will also entail the construction of two new 
bridges and the rehabilitation of an existing steel viaduct.
    \4\ Prior to its abandonment in 1991, the SIRR interchanged 
freight with several rail carriers via car float operations. These 
operations, also called lightering, employed various types of towed 
or self-propelled floating equipment. Car floats with railroad 
tracks were towed between waterfront terminals on the New York 
Harbor. A system of tracks served the piers at the terminals, 
allowing rail cars to be moved from the car floats, over float 
bridges, to the terminals. In 1934, the ICC held that the term 
``railroad'' includes ``all * * * lighters * * * used by or operated 
in connection with any railroad,'' and that the term 
``transportation'' includes ``vessels and all instrumentalities and 
facilities of shipment or carriage.'' Lighterage Cases, 203 I.C.C. 
481, 511-12 (1934).
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    Under 49 U.S.C. 10901(a), Board approval is required in situations 
where a person wishes to ``(1) construct an extension to any of its 
railroad lines; [or] (2) construct an additional railroad line; * * *'' 
According to the Port Authority, ``the final test in determining 
whether proposed trackage constitutes an extension is whether the 
effect of the new trackage is to extend substantially the line of a 
carrier into new territory,'' citing City of Detroit v. Canadian 
National Ry. Co., et al., 9 I.C.C.2d 1208 (1993), aff'd sub nom. 
Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority v. ICC, 59 F.3d 1314 (D.C. Cir. 
1995).
    The Port Authority argues that the proposed connector does not 
involve the construction of an ``extension'' of a line of railroad, nor 
does it constitute an ``additional'' line, the construction of which 
would require Board approval. Rather, petitioner argues that the 
connector merely permits a more efficient connection than those that 
have historically existed and which could be reactivated without Board 
approval. Specifically, the Port Authority maintains that it controls 
and could reactivate the Port Ivory and Port Newark Port Authority 
float bridges,\5\ to form a route that parallels the route provided by 
the proposed connector, without Board approval.\6\ According to the 
Port Authority, construction of the connector will neither open up new 
traffic routes nor expand service into new territory.
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    \5\ Petitioner notes, however, that it would not be economically 
feasible to do so.
    \6\ According to petitioner, these parallel routes have the same 
origins and destinations and serve the same shippers.
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    Finally, the Port Authority requests expedited consideration of its 
request so that the SIRR reactivation project may advance as quickly as 
possible. The Port Authority claims that the Howland Hook Container 
Terminal, Inc. (Howland Hook), located on Staten Island, NY, is at a 
severe competitive disadvantage compared to other major container 
terminals on the Atlantic Coast in that it does not have direct rail 
service. Petitioner maintains that, as a result, containers handled at 
Howland Hook must be drayed to intermodal rail facilities in New 
Jersey, producing a great deal of truck traffic in an already 
congested, non-attainment air quality area. This results in significant 
drayage costs for Howland Hook and negative environmental consequences.
    By this notice, the Board is requesting comments on the Port 
Authority's petition.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov.

    Decided: November 12, 2003.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-28753 Filed 11-17-03; 8:45 am]
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