2018-11551. CSX Transportation, Inc.-Abandonment Exemption-in Trumbull County, Ohio  

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    CSX Transportation (CSXT) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F-Exempt Abandonments to abandon approximately 13.9 miles of rail line on its Newton Falls Subdivision, between milepost BGA 86.1 and milepost BGA 100.00, in Trumbull County, Ohio (the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Codes 44430, 44444, 44446, 44483, 44484, and 44485 and serves the stations of Niles (FSAC 71412/SPLC 344191), Deforest, Warren (FSAC 71414/SPLC 344150), Leavittburg, and Newton Falls (FSAC 71417/SPLC 359883). CSXT states that these stations can be closed.

    CSXT has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) any overhead traffic on the Line can be rerouted; (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 either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board (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), 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies), and 49 CFR 1105.7 and 1105.8 (environment and historic report), 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] has been received, this exemption will be effective on June 29, 2018, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,[2] formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),[3] and interim trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by June 11, 2018. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by June 19, 2018, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001.

    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to CSXT's representative, Louis 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.

    CSXT has filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by June 4, 2018. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to OEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or by calling OEA at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Comments on environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA becomes available to the public.

    Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent decision.

    Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), CSXT shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If consummation has not been effected by CSXT's filing of a notice of consummation by May 30, 2019, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire.

    Board decisions and notices are available on our website at WWW.STB.GOV.

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    Decided: May 22, 2018.

    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of Proceedings.

    Raina Contee,

    Clearance Clerk.

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    Footnotes

    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).

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    2.  The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate action before the exemption's effective date.

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    3.  Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which currently is set at $1,800. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

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    [FR Doc. 2018-11551 Filed 5-29-18; 8:45 am]

    BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

Document Information

Published:
05/30/2018
Department:
Surface Transportation Board
Entry Type:
Notice
Document Number:
2018-11551
Pages:
24837-24837 (1 pages)
Docket Numbers:
Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 779X)
PDF File:
2018-11551.Pdf