2017-01856. CSX Transportation, Inc.-Abandonment Exemption-in Greenbrier and Fayette Counties,W. Va.

CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1152 subpart F- Exempt Abandonments to abandon an approximately 6.0-mile rail line on its Southern Region, Florence Division, Sewell Valley Subdivision, between milepost CAF 21.0 and the end of the track at milepost CAF 27.0 near Rainelle, in Greenbrier and Fayette Counties, W. Va. (the Line).^[1] The Line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 25962 and includes the Rainelle Jct. station at milepost CAF 21 (FSAC 83044/OPSL 62375). The station will remain open.

CSXT has certified that: (1) No local freight traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) because the Line is not a through route, 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 either 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 1105.7(c) (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.11 (transmittal letter), 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) has been received, this exemption will be effective on February 28, 2017, 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 trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by February 6, 2017.^[4] Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by February 16, 2017, 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.

CSXT has filed environmental and historic reports that address the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by February 3, 2017. 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 [phone]. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service at [phone]. 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 January 27, 2018, 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 Web site at “WWW.STB.GOV.”

Decided: January 24, 2017.

By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of Proceedings.

Kenyatta Clay,

Clearance Clerk.

Footnotes

1.  CSXT was authorized to discontinue service over the Line in 2016. CSX Transp., Inc.—Discontinuance of Serv. Exemption—in Greenbrier & Fayette Ctys, W. Va., AB 55 (Sub-No. 759X) (STB served April 4, 2016). By letter dated May 6, 2016, CSXT informed the Board that it had consummated the discontinuance of the Line.

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.

3.  Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is currently set at $1,700. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

4.  In the verified notice, CSXT states that it plans to transfer the Line to the Greenbrier County Commission and the Fayette County Commission and convert the Line to a trail under a notice of interim trail use agreement.