[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 73 (Monday, April 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19783-19784]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3620]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 34857]


The Kansas City Southern Railway Company--Temporary Trackage 
Rights Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company and BNSF Railway 
Company

    Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) 
have agreed to grant temporary overhead trackage rights to The Kansas 
City Southern Railway Company (KCSR) over approximately 354 miles of 
rail line owned by UP, and over approximately 30 miles of rail line 
owned by BNSF.
    Under the trackage rights agreement, UP will provide KCSR with non-
exclusive, temporary trackage rights as follows: (1) Between 
Shreveport, LA, approximately UP milepost 230.8 and the Quitman Street 
Connection in Houston, TX (UP's Lufkin Subdivision), a total distance 
of approximately 235 miles, (2) between UP milepost 238.1 (BNSF 
Connection) and UP milepost 238.0 (T&NO Junction), approximately 0.1 
mile, and (3) between Algoa, TX, UP milepost 343.1 and Placedo, TX, UP 
milepost 224.1 (UP's Angleton Subdivision), a distance of approximately 
119 miles. In addition, to enable KCSR to reach UP's Angleton 
Subdivision from Houston, BNSF will grant temporary trackage rights to 
KCSR as follows: (1) Over a portion of BNSF's rail line between Tower 
81 in Houston (T&NO Junction) at BNSF milepost 19.4 and the Alvin Wye 
at BNSF milepost 0.0, and (2) between Alvin Crossover, milepost 28.6 
and Algoa, milepost 24.4 (BNSF's Mykawa Subdivision), a distance of 
approximately 30 miles.
    The parties state that the transaction was scheduled to be 
consummated on April 1, 2006, or upon the effective date of the 
exemption,\1\ and that the temporary trackage rights are scheduled to 
expire on June 1, 2006. The purpose of the trackage rights over UP's 
and BNSF's lines is to allow KCSR to provide a connection between 
Mexico, The Texas Mexican Railway Company's (Tex Mex) rail lines, and 
the remainder of KCSR's system while UP's Glidden Subdivision is out of 
service due to

[[Page 19784]]

certain programmed track, roadbed and structural maintenance.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Under 49 CFR 1180.4(g), a railroad must file a verified 
notice of the transaction with the Board at least one week in 
advance of consummation, in order to qualify for an exemption under 
49 CFR 1180.2(d). In this case, the verified notice was filed on 
March 29, 2006. Therefore, the earliest the transaction could have 
been consummated was April 5, 2006, the effective date of the 
exemption.
    \2\ Applicants state that Tex Mex has operated over the Glidden 
Subdivision via trackage rights since 1996. On March 29, 2006, in 
STB Finance Docket No. 34849, Kansas City Southern, The Kansas City 
Southern Railway Company, and The Texas Mexican Railway Company--
Exemption for Transactions Within a Corporate Family, applicants 
filed a verified notice of exemption involving the assignment to, 
and acquisition by, KCSR of all of Tex Mex's trackage and operating 
rights. Also on March 29, in STB Finance Docket No. 34848, The 
Kansas City Southern Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--The 
Texas Mexican Railway Company, Tex Mex agreed to grant KCSR local 
and overhead trackage rights over its entire 157-mile rail line 
between Laredo and Corpus Christi, TX. All three related notices are 
being published and served simultaneously.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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), and any employee affected by the discontinuance of those 
trackage rights will be protected by the conditions set out in Oregon 
Short Line R. Co.--Abandonment--Goshen, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).
    This notice is filed under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(8). If the notice 
contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab 
inito. 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. 34857, must be filed with the Surface Transportation 
Board, 1925 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a 
copy of each pleading must be served on William A. Mullins, 2401 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov.

    Decided: April 11, 2006.

    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-3620 Filed 4-14-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-M