[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12272-12273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03949]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. FD 36099; Docket No. FD 36100; Docket No. FD 36101; Docket
No. FD 36102]
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company--Trackage Rights--
Consolidated Rail Corporation, CSX Transportation, Inc., and Norfolk
Southern Railway Company; CSX Transportation, Inc.--Trackage Rights--
Consolidated Rail Corporation and Norfolk Southern Railway Company;
Norfolk Southern Railway Company--Trackage Rights--Consolidated Rail
Corporation and CSX Transportation, Inc.; and Consolidated Rail
Corporation--Trackage Rights--CSX Transportation, Inc. and Norfolk
Southern Railway Company
The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company (IHB), Consolidated Rail
Corporation (Conrail), CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT), and Norfolk
Southern Railway Company (NSR) (collectively, the Parties) have
submitted four combined verified notices of exemption in these four
dockets pursuant to the class exemption at 49 CFR 1180.27(d)(7) for
trackage rights over rail lines and ancillary trackage owned by
Conrail, CSXT, and NSR in the vicinity of Gibson and Ivanhoe, Ind., and
Calumet Park, Ill. The trackage rights are pursuant to a written
trackage rights agreement (Agreement) to be entered into among IHB,
Conrail, CSXT, and NSR.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Parties state that, pursuant to 49 CFR 1180.6(a)(7), a
copy of the executed Agreement will be filed with the Board within
10 days of its execution. A redacted copy of the Agreement was filed
with the notices of exemption. An unredacted copy also was filed
under seal along with a motion for protective order pursuant to 49
CFR 1104.14(b). That motion will be addressed in a separate
decision.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 12273]]
In Docket No. FD 36099, Conrail, CSXT, and NSR have agreed to grant
IHB local and overhead trackage rights: (1) Over CSXT's Kensington
Branch (a/k/a East-West Line), between CSXT milepost 259.4 at the
Ivanhoe intersection in Gary, Ind., and Conrail milepost 266.6 at the
intersection of Alice Avenue in Calumet City, Ill., including ancillary
trackage; (2) over NSR's Danville Branch (a/k/a the Indiana Harbor
Line), between milepost 0.0 at the intersection of Block Avenue in East
Chicago, Ind., and milepost 6.30 +/- at the intersection of Little
Calumet River in Hammond, Ind., including ancillary trackage; (3) over
Conrail's Dune Park Branch, between milepost 1.80 at the Ivanhoe
intersection in Gary, Ind., and milepost 4.63 at the intersection of
Chase Street in Gary, Ind., including ancillary trackage; (4) over
Conrail's Kensington Branch, between Conrail milepost 266.6 at the
intersection of Alice Avenue in Calumet City, Ill., and milepost 270.6
at the intersection of 124th Street in East Chicago, Ind., including
ancillary trackage; (5) over Conrail's Cast Armour Lead (between the
intersections of Dickey Road and Canal Street in East Chicago, Ind.)
and Harbison Walker Lead (between the intersections of Indiana Harbor
Canal and Kennedy Avenue in East Chicago, Ind.); and (6) over Conrail's
Gibson Yard (between Howard Avenue and Kennedy Avenue in Hammond,
Ind.), Gibson Transfer Yard (between Kennedy Avenue and Ivanhoe
intersection in Gary, Ind.), and Michigan Avenue Yard (between Michigan
Avenue and 144th Street in East Chicago, Ind.) (the Rail
Properties).\2\ The purpose of the trackage rights is to allow IHB to
continue to operate the Rail Properties with updated compensation and
other terms. IHB will have the same rights to supervise, dispatch, and
maintain the Rail Properties as it has had in the past. Conrail, CSXT,
and NSR will retain the rights to operate on the properties they own
and, at their election, the same rights to supervise, maintain, and
dispatch the trackage involved as Conrail retained when it owned all
the Rail Properties.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ According to the Parties, IHB, which is 51%-owned by
Conrail, has previously operated under 99-year trackage rights
agreements with predecessors in interest of Conrail, dated April 9,
1906 (1906 Agreement) and September 30, 1913 (1913 Agreement). Under
those agreements, IHB has supervised, maintained, and dispatched the
Rail Properties. Under the same agreements, Conrail retained the
right to operate, and, at its election, to supervise, maintain, and
dispatch the same lines. Pursuant to a transaction agreement
approved by the Board in CSX Corp.--Control & Operating Leases/
Agreements--Conrail, Inc., 3 S.T.B. 196 (1998), portions of the IHB-
operated properties owned by Conrail were allocated to New York
Central Lines LLC and Pennsylvania Lines, LLC, and subsequently to
CSXT and NSR. See CSX Corp.--Control & Operating Leases/Agreements--
Conrail, Inc., 7 S.T.B. 205 (2003). As part of the approved
transaction, CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern Corporation
entered into an agreement (the IHB Agreement) that gave CSXT and NSR
full, joint, and equal use of the Rail Properties, including
trackage rights over those properties. See CSX Corp., 3 S.T.B. at
228-229 (including the Rail Properties among the ``Other Areas with
Special Treatment'' that are ``subject to special arrangements that
provide for a sharing of routes or facilities to a certain
extent''). The 1906 Agreement and 1913 Agreement expired by their
terms, respectively, in 2005 and 2012.
\3\ Conrail has no current operations on the Rail Properties,
but it has always had the right to operate on its own properties.
CSXT and NSR have operations over the properties they own and, under
the IHB Agreement, they have the right to operate over the remainder
of the Rail Properties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Docket Nos. FD 36100, 36101, and 36102, Conrail, CSXT, and NSR
will grant each other local and overhead trackage rights over each
other's lines and ancillary trackage described above. The purpose of
these trackage rights is to: (1) Recognize the rights of CSXT and NSR
for full, joint, and equal operations over the Rail Properties,
including trackage rights, as authorized by the IHB Agreement, (2)
grant Conrail equivalent trackage rights over CSXT's and NSR's lines,
and (3) provide common terms for such trackage rights operations.
The Parties state that the Agreement does not contain interchange
commitments.
The transaction may be consummated on March 15, 2017, the effective
date of the exemptions (30 days after the combined verified notices
were filed).
As a condition to these exemptions, any employees affected by the
trackage rights will be protected by the conditions imposed in Norfolk
& Western Railway--Trackage Rights--Burlington Northern, Inc., 354
I.C.C. 605 (1978), as modified in Mendocino Coast Railway--Lease &
Operate--California Western Railroad, 360 I.C.C. 653 (1980).
These notices are filed under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7). If the notices
contain false or misleading information, the exemptions are void ab
initio. Petitions to revoke the exemptions under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) may
be filed at any time. The filing of a petition to revoke will not
automatically stay the effectiveness of the exemptions. Petitions for
stay must be filed by March 8, 2017 (at least seven days before the
exemptions become effective).
An original and 10 copies of all pleadings, referring to Docket No.
FD 36099, et al., must be filed with the Surface Transportation Board,
395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a copy of
each pleading must be served on Joel Cornfeld, Indiana Harbor Belt
Railroad Company, 2721 161st Street, Hammond, IN 46323-1099; Robert M.
Jenkins III, Mayer Brown LLP, 1999 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20006-
1101; Paul R. Hitchcock, CSX Transportation, Inc., 500 Water Street,
Jacksonville, FL 32202; and David L. Coleman, Norfolk Southern Railway
Company, Three Commercial Place, Norfolk, VA 23510.
According to the Parties, this action is categorically excluded
from environmental review under 49 CFR 1105.6(c).
Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at
WWW.STB.GOV.
Decided: February 23, 2017.
By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of
Proceedings.
Raina S. Contee,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2017-03949 Filed 2-28-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P