[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 232 (Monday, December 3, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62398-62399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-26227]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 785X)]


CSX Transportation, Inc.--Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in 
Vermilion County, Ill

    CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT), has 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 
3.6-mile rail line on its Woodlands Subdivision between milepost QSK 
0.0 and milepost QSK 3.6, the end of the line in Vermilion County, Ill. 
(the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 
61832.
    CSXT has certified that: (1) No freight traffic has moved over the 
Line for at least two years; (2) any overhead traffic on the Line can 
be rerouted over other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user 
of rail service on the Line (or 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 or 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 
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.

[[Page 62399]]

    Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of 
financial assistance (OFA) \1\ to subsidize continued rail service has 
been received, this exemption will be effective on January 2, 2019, 
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 December 13, 2018.\3\ Petitions for 
reconsideration must be filed by December 24, 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 30997 (July 5, 2017).
    \2\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which 
currently is set at $1,800. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
    \3\ 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.
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    A copy of any petition filed with Board should be sent to CSXT's 
representative, Louis E. Gitomer, Law Offices of Louis E. Gitomer, LLC, 
600 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204.
    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: November 28, 2018.

    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2018-26227 Filed 11-30-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P