2010-17973. Central Railroad Company of Indianapolis-Abandonment Exemption-in Howard County, IN

Central Railroad Company of Indianapolis (CERA) filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F— Exempt Abandonments to abandon 2.84 miles of rail line on CERA's Tipton Industrial Lead between milepost 55.66 and milepost 58.5, in Howard County, Ind. The line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 46901.^[1]

CERA has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the line for at least 2 years; (2) any overhead traffic on the line can 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 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 2-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7 (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.8 (historic 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 & The Union Pacific 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 August 21, 2010, 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 August 2, 2010.^[4] Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by August 11, 2010, 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 CERA's representative: Melanie B. Yasbin, 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.

CERA has filed a combined environmental and historic report which addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. SEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by July 27, 2010. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to SEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or by calling SEA, at [phone]. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. 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), CERA 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 CERA's filing of a notice of consummation by July 22, 2011, 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 http://www.stb.dot.gov.

Decided: July 16, 2010.

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

Jeffrey Herzig,

Clearance Clerk.

Footnotes

1.  On July 8, 2010, CERA filed a correction to its notice of exemption.

2.  The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) 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 $1,500. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

4.  CERA notes that the property proposed for abandonment is suitable for other public purposes. However, CERA states that CERA and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) have entered into an agreement where, upon receipt of abandonment authority, CERA proposes to convey 4.671 acres of land to INDOT to further a highway construction project.