[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 136 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 32945]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15142]



[[Page 32945]]

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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 401X); Docket No. AB 1058X]


Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railway Company--Discontinuance of 
Service Exemption--in Walker County, Ga.; Chattooga & Chickamauga 
Railway Company--Discontinuance of Lease and Trackage Rights 
Operations--in Walker County, Ga. and Hamilton County, Tenn.

    Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railway Company (TAG), a wholly owned 
subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway Company, and Chattooga & 
Chickamauga Railway Company (CCKY) (collectively, TAG and CCKY are 
referred to as Railroads) have jointly filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and 
Discontinuances of Service for (1) TAG to discontinue service over 
approximately 16.8 miles of rail line extending between milepost TA 6.3 
(at or near Flintstone, Ga.) and milepost TA 23.l (at or near Hedges, 
Ga.) in Walker County, Ga.; (2) CCKY to discontinue its lease of 
approximately 19.20 miles of rail line owned by TAG and the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad Company (AGS) extending between milepost TA 
3.94 (at Chattanooga, Tenn.) and milepost TA 23.1 in Hamilton County, 
Tenn., and Walker County, Ga.; and (3) CCKY to discontinue overhead 
trackage rights it holds over the following connecting lines, all 
located in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tenn.: (a) AGS's line between 
milepost G-2.66 at a connection with TAG and milepost G-1.02 at the 
north end of Shipp Yard, a distance of 1.6 miles; (b) Central of 
Georgia Railroad Company's (COG) line between milepost C-445.4 and its 
connection with TAG at milepost TA 3.94, a distance of approximately 
1.5 miles; and (c) TAG's rail line between milepost TA 3.94 and 
milepost TA 3.39 (at TAG's connection with AGS), a distance of 
approximately 0.55 miles (collectively, the ``Line''). The Line 
traverses United States Postal Zip Codes 30725, 30707, 37407, 37408, 
37409, and 37410.
    The Railroads have certified that: (1) They have handled no local 
or overhead common carrier service over the Line for at least two 
years; (2) overhead traffic, if there were any, could be rerouted over 
other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of a 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 a 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 government agencies) 
have been met.
    As a condition to these exemptions, any employee adversely affected 
by the discontinuances 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) \1\ to subsidize continued rail service has 
been received, these exemptions will be effective August 15, 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) 
\2\ must be filed by July 26, 2018.\3\ Petitions for reconsideration 
must be filed by August 6, 2018, with the Surface Transportation Board, 
395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001.
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    \1\ 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).
    \2\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which 
currently is set at $1,800. See Regulations Governing Fees for 
Servs. Performed in Connection with Licensing & Related Servs.--2017 
Update, EP 542 (Sub-No. 25) (STB served July 28, 2017).
    \3\ Because these are discontinuance proceedings and not 
abandonments, trail use/rail banking and public use conditions are 
not appropriate. Because there will be an environmental review 
during abandonment, these discontinuances do not require 
environmental review.
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    A copy of any petition filed with Board should be sent to the 
Railroads' representative, William A. Mullins, Baker & Miller PLLC, 
2401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037.
    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.

    Decided: July 11, 2018.

    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Marline Simeon,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2018-15142 Filed 7-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P