[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 128 (Monday, July 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38509-38511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16420]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
Information Collection Activities: Statutory Authority To
Preserve Rail Service
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT.
ACTION: 60-day notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C.
3501-3519 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives
notice of its intent to seek from the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) an extension of the information collections required under 49
U.S.C. 10904-05 and 10907, and 16 U.S.C. 1247(d).
Under these statutory provisions, the Board administers programs
designed to preserve railroad service or rail rights-of-way. When a
line is proposed for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or
other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing
with the Board: An offer of financial assistance (OFA) to subsidize or
purchase a rail line for which a railroad is seeking abandonment (49
U.S.C. 10904), including a request for the Board to set terms and
conditions of the financial assistance; a request for a public use
condition (Sec. 10905); or a trail-use request (16 U.S.C. 1247(d)).
Similarly, when a line is placed on a system diagram map identifying it
as an anticipated or potential candidate for abandonment, affected
shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve
rail service by filing with the Board a feeder line application to
purchase the identified rail line (Sec. 10907). When a line is so
placed on the map, the feeder line applicant need not demonstrate that
the public convenience and necessity require or permit the sale of the
line, but need only pay the constitutional minimum value to acquire it.
Additionally, the railroad owning the rail line subject to abandonment
must, in some circumstances, provide
[[Page 38510]]
information to the applicant or offeror. The relevant information
collections are described in more detail below.
Comments are requested concerning: (1) The accuracy of the Board's
burden estimates; (2) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information collected; (3) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on the respondents, including the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology when appropriate; and (4) whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Board, including whether the collection has practical utility.
Submitted comments will be summarized and included in the Board's
request for OMB approval.
Description of Collections
Title: Statutory Authority to Preserve Rail Service.
OMB Control Number: 2140-0022.
STB Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension without change.
Respondents: Affected shippers, communities, or other interested
persons seeking to preserve rail service over rail lines that are
proposed or identified for abandonment, and railroads that are required
to provide information to the offeror or applicant.
Number of Respondents: 40 (including informational filings required
of railroads).
Frequency: On occasion.
Table--Number of Yearly Responses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of filing filings
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offer of Financial Assistance........................... 1
OFA--Railroad Reply to Request for Information.......... 2
OFA--Request to Set Terms and Conditions................ 1
Request for Public Use Condition........................ 1
Feeder Line Application................................. 1
Trail-Use Request....................................... 27
Trail-Use Request Extension............................. 94
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Burden Hours (annually including all respondents): 612 hours
(sum total of estimated hours per response X number of responses for
each type of filing).
Table--Estimated Hours per Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of filing hours per
response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offer of Financial Assistance........................... 32 hours
OFA--Railroad Reply to Request for Information.......... 10 hours
OFA--Request to Set Terms and Conditions................ 4 hours
Request for Public Use Condition........................ 2 hours
Feeder Line Application................................. 70 hours
Trail-Use Request....................................... 4 hours
Trail-Use Request Extension............................. 4 hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total ``Non-hour Burden'' Cost: None identified. Filings are
submitted electronically to the Board.
Needs and Uses: Under the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by
the ICC Termination Act of 1995, Public Law 104-88, 109 Stat. 803
(1995), and Section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C.
1247(d) (Trails Act), persons seeking to preserve rail service may file
pleadings before the Board to acquire or subsidize a rail line for
continued service, or to impose a trail use or public use condition.
Under 49 U.S.C. 10904, the filing of an OFA starts a process of
negotiations to define the financial assistance needed to purchase or
subsidize the rail line sought for abandonment. Once the OFA is filed,
the offeror may request additional information from the railroad, which
the railroad must provide. If the parties cannot agree to the sale or
subsidy, either party also may file a request for the Board to set the
terms and conditions of the financial assistance. Under Sec. 10905, a
public use request allows the Board to impose a 180-day public use
condition on the abandonment of a rail line, permitting the parties to
negotiate a public use for the rail line. Under Sec. 10907, a feeder
line application provides the basis for authorizing an involuntary sale
of a rail line. Finally, under 16 U.S.C. 1247(d), a trail-use request,
if agreed upon by the abandoning carrier, requires the Board to
condition the abandonment by issuing a Notice of Interim Trail Use
(NITU) or Certificate of Interim Trail Use (CITU), permitting the
parties to negotiate an interim trail use/rail banking agreement for
the rail line.
The collection by the Board of these offers, requests, and
applications, and the railroad's replies (when required), enables the
Board to meet its statutory duty to regulate the referenced rail
transactions. See Table--Statutory and Regulatory Provisions below.
Retention Period: Information in these collections is maintained by
the Board for 10 years, after which it is transferred to the National
Archives as permanent records.
DATES: Comments on this information collection should be submitted by
September 4, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Chris Oehrle, Surface Transportation
Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001, or to
[email protected]. When submitting comments, please refer to ``Statutory
Authority to Preserve Rail Service.'' For further information regarding
this collection, contact [email protected] or Chris Oehrle at (202) 245-
0271. [Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) for the hearing
impaired: (800) 877-8339.] Filings made in responses to this collection
are available on the Board's Web site at www.stb.dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Respondents seeking authority from the Board
to preserve rail lines must submit certain information required under
the Board's related regulations and, in some circumstances, railroads
seeking to abandon a line must disclose certain information to the
offeror or applicant.
Offer of Financial Assistance. When a rail line would otherwise be
approved for abandonment (or discontinuance), any financially
responsible person may seek to acquire the line for continued rail
service (after abandonment has been approved), or may seek to
temporarily subsidize continued operations by the incumbent railroad
(after abandonment or discontinuance has been approved), by filing an
OFA under 49 U.S.C. 10904 and 49 CFR 1152.27. An OFA may be submitted
to the Board as soon as the railroad seeks abandonment (or
discontinuance) authority. Once an OFA is submitted, the abandoning
railroad must, upon request, promptly provide to any party considering
an OFA and to the Board an estimate of the annual subsidy or minimum
purchase price; a report on the physical condition of line; and data on
traffic, revenues, net liquidation value, and the cost to rehabilitate
to class I (minimum) track standards. If the parties are not able to
agree upon the purchase price or subsidy, then, to move forward, either
party may ask the Board to set the price or subsidy, which will be
binding upon the parties if the offeror chooses to accept the terms set
by the Board and proceed with the purchase.
Public Use Request. Any person may request that the Board prohibit
an abandoning railroad from disposing of the right-of-way--for up to
180 days--without first offering the right-of-way (on reasonable terms)
for other suitable public purposes (such as mass transit,
[[Page 38511]]
pipeline, transmission lines, recreation, etc.). Such requests are
governed by 49 U.S.C. 10905 and 49 CFR 1152.28.
Feeder Line Application. When a line has been identified on a
railroad's system diagram map as a potential candidate for abandonment
(or discontinuance), but before abandonment (or discontinuance)
authority has been sought, any financially responsible person (other
than a Class I or II railroad) may, by filing a feeder line application
under 49 U.S.C. 10907 and 49 CFR 1151, seek to acquire the line for
continued rail service under the forced sale provisions of the feeder
railroad development program.
Trail-Use Request. The Trails Act provides a mechanism whereby any
interested person may seek to ``railbank'' a rail right-of-way that has
been approved for abandonment and use the property in the interim as a
recreational trail. The Board has a ministerial role in this process;
under 49 CFR 1152.29, interested persons may submit a request to the
Board for a trail-use condition, and if the statutory conditions are
met, the Board must authorize the parties to negotiate a trail-use
agreement by issuing a CITU, or, in an exemption proceeding, a NITU.
The CITU or NITU typically permit negotiations for 180 days, but the
negotiations can be extended upon request to the Board. Under the
Trails Act, trail-use agreements are consensual, not forced. The
abandoning railroad is free to choose whether or not to enter into or
continue negotiations to transfer (all or part of) the right-of-way to
a trail sponsor.
Under the PRA, a Federal agency conducting or sponsoring a
collection of information must display a currently valid OMB control
number. A collection of information, which is defined in 44 U.S.C.
3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c), includes agency requirements that persons
submit reports, keep records, or provide information to the agency,
third parties, or the public. Under Sec. 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA,
Federal agencies are required to provide, prior to an agency's
submitting a collection to OMB for approval, a 60-day notice and
comment period through publication in the Federal Register concerning
each proposed collection of information, including each proposed
extension of an existing collection of information.
Dated: June 29, 2015.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2015-16420 Filed 7-2-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P