[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35297-35298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09387]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 7)]


Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway 
Company

    By petition filed on March 1, 2024, Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC) 
requests that the Board partially revoke the trackage rights exemption 
granted to it under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) in Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 
6), as necessary to permit that trackage rights arrangement to expire 
on March 31, 2025. GNBC filed its verified notice of exemption on March 
1, 2024, and simultaneously filed its petition for partial revocation. 
Notice of the exemption was served and published in the Federal 
Register (89 FR 19001) on March 15, 2024, and the exemption became 
effective on March 31, 2024.
    As explained by GNBC in its verified notice of exemption in Docket 
No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 6), GNBC and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) have 
entered into an amendment to extend the term of the previously amended, 
local trackage rights on trackage owned by BNSF between approximately 
milepost 668.73 in Long, Okla., and approximately milepost 723.30 in 
Quanah, Tex. (the Line), allowing GNBC to (1) use the Line to access 
the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) facility near BNSF 
Chickasha Subdivision milepost 688.6 at Altus, Okla., and (2) operate 
additional trains on the Line to accommodate the movement of trains 
transporting BNSF customers' railcars (loaded or empty) located along 
the Line to unit train

[[Page 35298]]

facilities on the Line (collectively, the PCCA Trackage Rights). (GNBC 
Verified Notice of Exemption 2-4, Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. 
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 36486 (Sub-No. 6).)
    GNBC explains that the trackage rights covered by the verified 
notice in Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 6) are local rather than 
overhead rights and therefore do not qualify for the Board's class 
exemption for temporary trackage rights under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(8). 
(GNBC Pet. 4.) GNBC therefore filed its verified notice of exemption 
under the Board's class exemption procedures at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) and 
a petition for partial revocation of the exemption as necessary to 
permit the PCCA Trackage Rights to expire on March 31, 2025, pursuant 
to the parties' agreement. (GNBC Pet 3.) GNBC argues that the requested 
relief will promote the rail transportation policy and is limited in 
scope. (Id. at 4.) GNBC also asserts that the Board has routinely 
granted similar petitions to allow trackage rights to expire on a 
negotiated date. (Id. at 4-5.)

Discussion and Conclusions

    Although GNBC and BNSF have expressly agreed on the duration of the 
proposed trackage rights, trackage rights approved under the class 
exemption at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) typically remain effective 
indefinitely, regardless of any contractual provisions. At times, 
however, the Board has partially revoked a trackage rights exemption to 
allow those rights to expire after a limited time rather than lasting 
in perpetuity. See, e.g., Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--
BNSF Ry., FD 36486 (Sub-No. 5) (STB served May 15, 2023) (granting a 
petition to partially revoke a trackage rights exemption involving the 
Line at issue in this case); BNSF Ry.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--Union 
Pac. R.R., FD 36377 (Sub-No. 7) (STB served Mar. 2, 2023); New Orleans 
Pub. Belt R.R.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--Ill. Cent. R.R., FD 36198 
(Sub-No. 1) (STB served June 20, 2018).
    Granting partial revocation in these circumstances to permit the 
trackage rights to expire would eliminate the need for GNBC to file a 
second pleading seeking discontinuance when the agreement expires, 
thereby promoting the rail transportation policy at 49 U.S.C. 10101(2), 
(7), and (15). Moreover, partially revoking the exemption to limit the 
term of the trackage rights is consistent with the limited scope of the 
transaction previously exempted.\1\ Therefore, the Board will grant the 
petition and permit the trackage rights exempted in Docket No. FD 36486 
(Sub-No. 6) to expire on March 31, 2025.
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    \1\ Because the proposed transaction is of limited scope, the 
Board need not make a market power finding. See 49 U.S.C. 10502(a).
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    To provide the statutorily mandated protection to any employee 
adversely affected by the discontinuance of trackage rights, the Board 
will impose the employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon 
Short Line Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & 
Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).
    This action is categorically excluded from environmental review 
under 49 CFR 1105.6(c).
    It is ordered:
    1. The petition for partial revocation of the trackage rights class 
exemption is granted.
    2. As discussed above, the trackage rights in Docket No. FD 36486 
(Sub-No. 6) are permitted to expire on March 31, 2025, subject to the 
employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon Short Line Railroad, 
360 I.C.C. 91.
    3. Notice of this decision will be published in the Federal 
Register.
    4. This decision is effective on May 31, 2024. Petitions to stay 
must be filed by May 13, 2024. Petitions for reconsideration must be 
filed by May 21, 2024.

    Decided: April 25, 2024.

    By the Board, Board Members Fuchs, Hedlund, Oberman, Primus, and 
Schultz.
Raina White,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2024-09387 Filed 4-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P