[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 68 (Monday, April 9, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15190-15191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07223]


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

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 33 (Sub-No. 335X)]


Union Pacific Railroad Company--Discontinuance of Service 
Exemption--in McLennan County, Tex.

    Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F-Exempt Abandonments and 
Discontinuance of Service to discontinue service over approximately 1.3 
miles of the former Mart Line near Waco, Tex., between milepost 173.7 
and milepost 175.0 near Chapel Hill Road, in McLennan County, Tex. (the 
Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 
76705.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ UP filed this notice simultaneously with a verified notice 
of exemption to abandon a 0.5-mile portion of rail line that 
connects with the Line at milepost 173.7. That notice is being 
considered in a separate docket. See Union Pac. R.R.--Aban. 
Exemption--in McLennan Cty., Tex., AB 33 (Sub-No. 334X) (STB served 
April 9, 2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    UP has certified that: (1) No local or overhead traffic has moved 
over the Line for at least two years; (2) there is no need to reroute 
any traffic 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 either is pending 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 1105.7(c) (environmental report), 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) \2\ to subsidize continued rail service has 
been received, this exemption will be effective on May 9, 2018, 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) \3\ must be 
filed by April 19, 2018.\4\ Petitions to reopen or requests for public 
use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April 30, 2018, 
with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 
20423-0001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The Board modified its OFA procedures effective July 29, 
2017. Among other things, the OFA process now requires potential 
offerors, in their formal expression of intent, to make a 
preliminary financial responsibility showing based on a calculation 
using information contained in the carrier's filing and publicly 
available information. See Offers of Financial Assistance, EP 729 
(STB served June 29, 2017); 82 FR 30,997 (July 5, 2017).
    \3\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is 
currently set at $1,800. See Regulations Governing Fees for Servs. 
Performed in Connection with Licensing & Related Servs.--2017 
Update, EP 542 (Sub-No. 25), slip op. App. C at 20 (STB served July 
28, 2017).
    \4\ Because this is a discontinuance proceeding and not an 
abandonment, 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 
environmental review.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to UP's 
representative: Jeremy M. Berman, 1400 Douglas St., #1580, Omaha, NE 
68179.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our website at 
WWW.STB.GOV.


[[Page 15191]]


    Decided: April 4, 2018.
    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Marline Simeon,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2018-07223 Filed 4-6-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P