[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 42 (Friday, March 3, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 11016]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1861]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 34554 (Sub-No. 4)]


Union Pacific Railroad Company--Temporary Trackage Rights 
Exemption--BNSF Railway Company

    BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), pursuant to a modified written 
trackage rights agreement entered into between BNSF and Union Pacific 
Railroad Company (UP), has agreed to extend the expiration date of the 
local trackage rights granted to UP \1\ over BNSF's line of railroad 
extending from BNSF milepost 579.3 near Mill Creek, OK, to BNSF 
milepost 631.1 near Joe Junction, TX, a distance of approximately 51 
miles.\2\
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    \1\ UP submits that the trackage rights being granted here are 
only temporary rights, but, because they are ``local'' rather than 
``overhead'' rights, they do not qualify for the Board's class 
exemption for temporary trackage rights at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(8). See 
Railroad Consolidation Procedures--Exemption for Temporary Trackage 
Rights, STB Ex Parte No. 282 (Sub-No. 20) (STB served May 23, 2003). 
Therefore, UP and BNSF concurrently have filed a petition for 
partial revocation of this exemption in STB Finance Docket No. 34554 
(Sub-No. 5), Union Pacific Railroad Company--Temporary Trackage 
Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway Company, wherein UP and BNSF request 
that the Board permit the proposed local trackage rights arrangement 
described in the present proceeding to expire on or about December 
31, 2006. That petition will be addressed by the Board in a separate 
decision.
    \2\ The original trackage rights granted in Union Pacific 
Railroad Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--The Burlington Northern 
and Santa Fe Railway Company, STB Finance Docket No. 34554 (STB 
served Oct. 7, 2004), also extended from BNSF milepost 579.3 near 
Mill Creek, OK, to BNSF milepost 631.1 near Joe Junction, TX. By 
decisions served on November 24, 2004, in STB Finance Docket No. 
34554 (Sub-No. 1) and on March 25, 2005, in STB Finance Docket No. 
34554 (Sub-No. 3), the Board granted exemptions to permit the 
trackage rights authorized in STB Finance Docket No. 34554 and 
extended in STB Finance Docket No. 34554 (Sub-No. 2), served on Feb. 
11, 2005, to expire. At the time of that extension, it was 
anticipated by the parties that the rights would expire on or about 
December 31, 2005. However, this authority has not yet been 
exercised.
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    The transaction was scheduled to be consummated on February 20, 
2006.
    The purpose of this transaction is to modify the temporary trackage 
rights exempted in STB Finance Docket No. 34554 (Sub-No. 2) to further 
extend the expiration date to on or before December 31, 2006. The 
modified trackage rights will permit UP to continue to move loaded and 
empty ballast trains for use in its maintenance-of-way projects.
    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).
    This notice is filed under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7). If it 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. 34554 (Sub-No. 4), must be filed with the Surface 
Transportation Board, 1925 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423-0001. In 
addition, one copy of each pleading must be served on Gabriel S. Meyer, 
1400 Douglas Street, STOP 1580, Omaha, NE 68179.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov.

    Decided: February 22, 2006.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-1861 Filed 3-2-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P