[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 76 (Friday, April 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16555-16556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07893]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 1247 (Sub-No. 1X)]


Illinois Railway, LLC--Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in 
Ogle County, Ill.

    Illinois Railway, LLC (IR), has filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and 
Discontinuances of Service to discontinue common carrier service over 
approximately 11 miles of railroad between milepost 11.31 at Davis 
Junction (excluding the junction point with Soo Line Railroad Company, 
which will remain open for traffic

[[Page 16556]]

originating and terminating at points on IR north of Davis Junction) 
and milepost 0.29 at Flagg Center, all in Ogle County, Ill. (the Line). 
The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 61068 and 61020.
    IR has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line 
for at least two years; (2) 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 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 1105.12 (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 abandonment 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, this exemption will be effective on May 19, 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 April 29, 2019.\3\ Petitions for reconsideration must be filed 
by May 9, 2019, 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 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 the Board should be sent to IR's 
representative, Bradon J. Smith, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29 North Wacker 
Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606.
    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: April 16, 2019.

    By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Regena Smith-Bernard,
Clarence Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2019-07893 Filed 4-18-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P