[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 128 (Monday, July 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38509-38511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16420]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board


Information Collection Activities: Statutory Authority To 
Preserve Rail Service

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT.

ACTION: 60-day notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
3501-3519 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives 
notice of its intent to seek from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) an extension of the information collections required under 49 
U.S.C. 10904-05 and 10907, and 16 U.S.C. 1247(d).
    Under these statutory provisions, the Board administers programs 
designed to preserve railroad service or rail rights-of-way. When a 
line is proposed for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or 
other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing 
with the Board: An offer of financial assistance (OFA) to subsidize or 
purchase a rail line for which a railroad is seeking abandonment (49 
U.S.C. 10904), including a request for the Board to set terms and 
conditions of the financial assistance; a request for a public use 
condition (Sec.  10905); or a trail-use request (16 U.S.C. 1247(d)). 
Similarly, when a line is placed on a system diagram map identifying it 
as an anticipated or potential candidate for abandonment, affected 
shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve 
rail service by filing with the Board a feeder line application to 
purchase the identified rail line (Sec.  10907). When a line is so 
placed on the map, the feeder line applicant need not demonstrate that 
the public convenience and necessity require or permit the sale of the 
line, but need only pay the constitutional minimum value to acquire it. 
Additionally, the railroad owning the rail line subject to abandonment 
must, in some circumstances, provide

[[Page 38510]]

information to the applicant or offeror. The relevant information 
collections are described in more detail below.
    Comments are requested concerning: (1) The accuracy of the Board's 
burden estimates; (2) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information collected; (3) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on the respondents, including the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology when appropriate; and (4) whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Board, including whether the collection has practical utility. 
Submitted comments will be summarized and included in the Board's 
request for OMB approval.

Description of Collections

    Title: Statutory Authority to Preserve Rail Service.
    OMB Control Number: 2140-0022.
    STB Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Extension without change.
    Respondents: Affected shippers, communities, or other interested 
persons seeking to preserve rail service over rail lines that are 
proposed or identified for abandonment, and railroads that are required 
to provide information to the offeror or applicant.
    Number of Respondents: 40 (including informational filings required 
of railroads).
    Frequency: On occasion.

                    Table--Number of Yearly Responses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Number of
                     Type of filing                           filings
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offer of Financial Assistance...........................               1
OFA--Railroad Reply to Request for Information..........               2
OFA--Request to Set Terms and Conditions................               1
Request for Public Use Condition........................               1
Feeder Line Application.................................               1
Trail-Use Request.......................................              27
Trail-Use Request Extension.............................              94
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total Burden Hours (annually including all respondents): 612 hours 
(sum total of estimated hours per response X number of responses for 
each type of filing).

                   Table--Estimated Hours per Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Number of
                     Type of filing                          hours per
                                                             response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offer of Financial Assistance...........................        32 hours
OFA--Railroad Reply to Request for Information..........        10 hours
OFA--Request to Set Terms and Conditions................         4 hours
Request for Public Use Condition........................         2 hours
Feeder Line Application.................................        70 hours
Trail-Use Request.......................................         4 hours
Trail-Use Request Extension.............................         4 hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total ``Non-hour Burden'' Cost: None identified. Filings are 
submitted electronically to the Board.
    Needs and Uses: Under the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by 
the ICC Termination Act of 1995, Public Law 104-88, 109 Stat. 803 
(1995), and Section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. 
1247(d) (Trails Act), persons seeking to preserve rail service may file 
pleadings before the Board to acquire or subsidize a rail line for 
continued service, or to impose a trail use or public use condition. 
Under 49 U.S.C. 10904, the filing of an OFA starts a process of 
negotiations to define the financial assistance needed to purchase or 
subsidize the rail line sought for abandonment. Once the OFA is filed, 
the offeror may request additional information from the railroad, which 
the railroad must provide. If the parties cannot agree to the sale or 
subsidy, either party also may file a request for the Board to set the 
terms and conditions of the financial assistance. Under Sec.  10905, a 
public use request allows the Board to impose a 180-day public use 
condition on the abandonment of a rail line, permitting the parties to 
negotiate a public use for the rail line. Under Sec.  10907, a feeder 
line application provides the basis for authorizing an involuntary sale 
of a rail line. Finally, under 16 U.S.C. 1247(d), a trail-use request, 
if agreed upon by the abandoning carrier, requires the Board to 
condition the abandonment by issuing a Notice of Interim Trail Use 
(NITU) or Certificate of Interim Trail Use (CITU), permitting the 
parties to negotiate an interim trail use/rail banking agreement for 
the rail line.
    The collection by the Board of these offers, requests, and 
applications, and the railroad's replies (when required), enables the 
Board to meet its statutory duty to regulate the referenced rail 
transactions. See Table--Statutory and Regulatory Provisions below.
    Retention Period: Information in these collections is maintained by 
the Board for 10 years, after which it is transferred to the National 
Archives as permanent records.

DATES: Comments on this information collection should be submitted by 
September 4, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Chris Oehrle, Surface Transportation 
Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001, or to 
[email protected]. When submitting comments, please refer to ``Statutory 
Authority to Preserve Rail Service.'' For further information regarding 
this collection, contact [email protected] or Chris Oehrle at (202) 245-
0271. [Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) for the hearing 
impaired: (800) 877-8339.] Filings made in responses to this collection 
are available on the Board's Web site at www.stb.dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Respondents seeking authority from the Board 
to preserve rail lines must submit certain information required under 
the Board's related regulations and, in some circumstances, railroads 
seeking to abandon a line must disclose certain information to the 
offeror or applicant.
    Offer of Financial Assistance. When a rail line would otherwise be 
approved for abandonment (or discontinuance), any financially 
responsible person may seek to acquire the line for continued rail 
service (after abandonment has been approved), or may seek to 
temporarily subsidize continued operations by the incumbent railroad 
(after abandonment or discontinuance has been approved), by filing an 
OFA under 49 U.S.C. 10904 and 49 CFR 1152.27. An OFA may be submitted 
to the Board as soon as the railroad seeks abandonment (or 
discontinuance) authority. Once an OFA is submitted, the abandoning 
railroad must, upon request, promptly provide to any party considering 
an OFA and to the Board an estimate of the annual subsidy or minimum 
purchase price; a report on the physical condition of line; and data on 
traffic, revenues, net liquidation value, and the cost to rehabilitate 
to class I (minimum) track standards. If the parties are not able to 
agree upon the purchase price or subsidy, then, to move forward, either 
party may ask the Board to set the price or subsidy, which will be 
binding upon the parties if the offeror chooses to accept the terms set 
by the Board and proceed with the purchase.
    Public Use Request. Any person may request that the Board prohibit 
an abandoning railroad from disposing of the right-of-way--for up to 
180 days--without first offering the right-of-way (on reasonable terms) 
for other suitable public purposes (such as mass transit,

[[Page 38511]]

pipeline, transmission lines, recreation, etc.). Such requests are 
governed by 49 U.S.C. 10905 and 49 CFR 1152.28.
    Feeder Line Application. When a line has been identified on a 
railroad's system diagram map as a potential candidate for abandonment 
(or discontinuance), but before abandonment (or discontinuance) 
authority has been sought, any financially responsible person (other 
than a Class I or II railroad) may, by filing a feeder line application 
under 49 U.S.C. 10907 and 49 CFR 1151, seek to acquire the line for 
continued rail service under the forced sale provisions of the feeder 
railroad development program.
    Trail-Use Request. The Trails Act provides a mechanism whereby any 
interested person may seek to ``railbank'' a rail right-of-way that has 
been approved for abandonment and use the property in the interim as a 
recreational trail. The Board has a ministerial role in this process; 
under 49 CFR 1152.29, interested persons may submit a request to the 
Board for a trail-use condition, and if the statutory conditions are 
met, the Board must authorize the parties to negotiate a trail-use 
agreement by issuing a CITU, or, in an exemption proceeding, a NITU. 
The CITU or NITU typically permit negotiations for 180 days, but the 
negotiations can be extended upon request to the Board. Under the 
Trails Act, trail-use agreements are consensual, not forced. The 
abandoning railroad is free to choose whether or not to enter into or 
continue negotiations to transfer (all or part of) the right-of-way to 
a trail sponsor.
    Under the PRA, a Federal agency conducting or sponsoring a 
collection of information must display a currently valid OMB control 
number. A collection of information, which is defined in 44 U.S.C. 
3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c), includes agency requirements that persons 
submit reports, keep records, or provide information to the agency, 
third parties, or the public. Under Sec.  3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 
Federal agencies are required to provide, prior to an agency's 
submitting a collection to OMB for approval, a 60-day notice and 
comment period through publication in the Federal Register concerning 
each proposed collection of information, including each proposed 
extension of an existing collection of information.

    Dated: June 29, 2015.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2015-16420 Filed 7-2-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P