[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 56 (Friday, March 22, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10882-10883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05489]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 227 (Sub-No. 13X)]


Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company--Discontinuance of Service 
Exemption--in Erie County, Ohio

    Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company (W&LE) has filed a verified 
notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt 
Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service to discontinue: (1) W&LE's 
lease and operation of the Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) rail-
water dock facility in Huron, Erie County, Ohio, consisting of 
approximately 27.6 acres of land, a 5,142-foot loop track, and 
approximately two miles of yard and support track in the dock area 
(collectively, Huron Dock); and (2) W&LE's overhead trackage rights on 
NSR's rail lines extending from approximately milepost B242 at 
Bellevue, Ohio, to approximately milepost B229 at Berlin Heights, Ohio, 
and from milepost B232/SC2.61 at Shinrock, Ohio (on the Bellevue-Berlin 
Heights segment), through milepost SC0.0/H10.7 at Huron Jct., Ohio, to 
the Huron Dock connection at milepost H12.2 in Huron, a total distance 
of approximately 17.1 miles in Erie County, Ohio (collectively, the 
Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights).\1\ The Huron Dock is located in U.S. 
Postal Service Zip Code 44839, and the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights 
traverse Zip Codes 44839, 44814, 44846, 44847, and 44811.
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    \1\ W&LE leased the Huron Dock and acquired the related 
Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights from the Norfolk and Western Railway 
Company (N&W), a predecessor to NSR, in 1994. See Wheeling & Lake 
Erie Ry.--Lease & Operation Exemption--Norfolk & W. Ry.'s Dock at 
Huron, Ohio, FD 32516 (ICC served June 27, 1994); Wheeling & Lake 
Erie Ry.--Trackage Rights Exemption--Norfolk & W. Ry., FD 32525 (ICC 
served July 15, 1994); see also CSX Corp.--Control & Operating 
Leases/Agreements--Conrail Inc., FD 33388 (Sub-No. 95), slip op. at 
3-4 (STB served Jan. 26, 2005) (extending the Huron Dock lease and 
the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights as part of a settlement between 
NSR and W&LE).
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    W&LE states that the agreements with NSR governing the Huron Dock 
lease and the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights have now expired and the 
requested discontinuance exemption will terminate W&LE's remaining 
common carrier status with respect to those rights and permit NSR to 
pursue abandonment and disposition of the Huron Dock. W&LE has 
certified that: (1) No W&LE revenue traffic has moved over the Huron 
Dock or the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights for at least two years; \2\ 
(2) any W&LE overhead traffic formerly handled via the Huron Dock or 
the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights could be rerouted over other lines; 
(3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Huron 
Dock or the Bellevue-Huron Trackage Rights (or a state or local 
government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of 
service either is pending before the Surface Transportation Board 
(Board) or any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of the 
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.
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    \2\ W&LE states that it has received railroad ballast for its 
own use at Huron Dock within the last two years. Such non-revenue 
movements, however, do not affect the availability of the class 
exemption for abandonment or discontinuance of out-of-service rail 
lines. See, e.g., Cambria & Ind. R.R.--Aban. Exemption--in Cambria 
Cty., Pa., AB 240 (Sub-No. 4X) (ICC served Nov. 23, 1994).
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    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) \3\ to subsidize continued rail service has 
been received, this exemption will be effective on April 21, 2019, 
unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not 
involve environmental issues and formal expressions of intent to file 
an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2) \4\ must be filed by April 1, 
2019.\5\ Petitions for reconsideration must be filed by April

[[Page 10883]]

11, 2019, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20423-0001.
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    \3\ 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).
    \4\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which 
currently is set at $1,800. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
    \5\ 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 W&LE's 
representative, Thomas J. Litwiler, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29 North 
Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606-3208.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.

    Decided: March 19, 2019.

    By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Kenyatta Clay,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2019-05489 Filed 3-21-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P