2024-09778. Union Pacific Railroad Company-Abandonment Exemption-in St. Louis County, Mo.; Missouri Eastern Railroad, LLC-Discontinuance of Service Exemption-in St. Louis County, Mo.

Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) and Missouri Eastern Railroad, LLC (MER) (collectively, Applicants) have jointly filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F— Exempt Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service for UP to abandon, and for MER to discontinue service over, a 0.55-mile portion of the Rock Island Old Passenger Main extending from milepost 11.58 to milepost 11.03, near Olivette, in St. Louis County, Mo. (the Line). The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Code 63132.

Applicants have certified that: (1) no local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) no overhead traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years, and there is therefore no need to reroute any traffic; (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 1105.7 and 1105.8 (notice of environmental and historic reports), 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 or 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) has been received,^[1] these exemptions will be effective on June 5, 2024, 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), and interim trail use/railbanking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by May 16, 2024.^[3] Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by May 28, 2024.

All pleadings, referring to Docket Nos. AB 33 (Sub-No. 350X) and AB 1338X, must be filed with the Surface Transportation Board either via e-filing on the Board's website or in writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading must be served on UP's representative, Christine A. Neuharth, 1400 Douglas Street, MS 1580, Omaha, NE 68179, and MER's representative, Robert A. Wimbish, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29 North Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606.

If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemptions are void ab initio.

UP has filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the potential effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) by May 10, 2024. The Draft EA will be available to interested persons on the Board's website, by writing to OEA, or by calling OEA at [phone]. If you require an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please call [phone]. Comments on environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the Draft EA becomes available to the public.

Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or interim 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), UP 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 UP's filing of a notice of consummation by May 6, 2025, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire.

Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.

Decided: May 1, 2024.

By the Board, Mai T. Dinh, Director, Office of Proceedings.

Kenyatta Clay,

Clearance Clerk.

Footnotes

1.  Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a formal expression of intent to file an offer, indicating the type of financial assistance they wish to provide ( i.e., subsidy or purchase) and demonstrating that they are preliminarily financially responsible. See49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2)(i).

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 effective date of the exemptions. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any request to stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate action before the effective date of the exemptions.

3.  Filing fees for OFAs and trail use requests can be found at 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25) and (27), respectively.