2016-00592. CSX Transportation, Inc.-Discontinuance of Service Exemption-in Harlan County, KY

CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT), 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 7.3-mile rail line on its Southern Region, Huntington Division, CV Subdivision, Engineering Appalachian Division, also known as the Catron's Creek Branch from milepost 0WO 243.0 to milepost 0WO 249.8 and from milepost 0WOS 249.5 to milepost 0WOS 250.0, in Harlan County, Ky. (the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Codes 40831 and 40964, and includes no stations.

CSXT has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) because the Line is not a through line, no overhead traffic has operated, and, therefore, none needs to 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 is pending either 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 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) to subsidize continued rail service has been received, this exemption will be effective on February 12, 2016, 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)^[1] must be filed by January 22, 2016.^[2] Petitions to reopen must be filed by February 2, 2016, 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 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 Web site at “WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.”

Decided: December 31, 2015.

By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting Director, Office of Proceedings.

Jeffrey Herzig,

Clearance Clerk.

Footnotes

1.  Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is currently set at $1,600. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

2.  Because this is a discontinuance proceeding and not an abandonment, interim trail use/rail banking and public use conditions are not appropriate. Because there will be environmental review during an abandonment, this discontinuance does not require an environmental review.