[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 12553]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05239]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 1011 (Sub-No. 2X)]


Northern Lines Railway, LLC--Discontinuance of Service 
Exemption--in Stearns County, MN

    Northern Lines Railway, LLC (NLR) filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and 
Discontinuances of Service to discontinue service over an approximately 
0.45-mile rail line owned by BNSF Railway Company, between milepost 
80.66 and milepost 81.11 in St. Joseph, Stearns County, Minn. (the 
Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 56374. 
NLR has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line 
for at least two years; (2) overhead traffic on the Line, if any, can 
be rerouted over other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user 
of rail service on the Line (or by a state or local government entity 
acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the 
Line is pending either with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or 
with any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of 
complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 
CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication) and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to 
governmental agencies) have been met.
    As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected 
by the discontinuance of service shall be protected under Oregon Short 
Line Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, 
in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To 
address whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, 
a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be 
filed.
    Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of 
financial assistance (OFA) to subsidize continued rail service has been 
received, this exemption will be effective on April 8, 2016, unless 
stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve 
environmental issues and formal expressions of intent to file an OFA to 
subsidize continued rail service under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2) \1\ must be 
filed by March 21, 2016.\2\ Petitions to reopen must be filed by March 
29, 2016, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20423-0001.
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    \1\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is 
currently set at $1,600. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
    \2\ Because this is a discontinue proceeding and not an 
abandonment, interim trail use/rail banking and public use 
conditions are not appropriate. Because there will be an 
environmental review during abandonment, this discontinuance does 
not require an environmental review.
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    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to NLR's 
representative: Rose-Michele Nardi, Transport Counsel PC, 1701 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at 
www.stb.dot.gov.

    Decided: March 4, 2016.

    By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Tia Delano,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2016-05239 Filed 3-8-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P