[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62245-62246]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-29874]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
[STB Finance Docket No. 33813]
RailAmerica, Inc.--Control Exemption--RailTex, Inc.
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
ACTION: Notice of filing of petition for exemption and request for
public comments.
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SUMMARY: RailAmerica, Inc., a railroad holding company that controls 12
Class III rail carriers, seeks an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502 from
the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323-25 for its
acquisition of control of RailTex, Inc., a railroad holding company
that controls 17 Class III rail carriers. We seek comments on the
requested exemption of control of RailTex by RailAmerica.
DATES: Comments are due by December 6, 1999. Petitioners' reply is due
by December 15, 1999. Decision on the merits of the proposed exemption
is due to be issued on January 14, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Send comments (an original and 25 copies) referring to STB
Finance Docket No. 33813 to: Surface Transportation Board, Office of
the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC
20423-0001. In addition, send one copy of comments to RailAmerica's
representative: Louis E. Gitomer, Of Counsel, Ball Janik LLP, 1455 F
Street, N.W., Suite 225, Washington, DC 20005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia M. Farr, (202) 565-1613. [TDD
for the hearing impaired: (202) 565-1695.]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 8, 1999, RailAmerica, Inc.
(RailAmerica), and RailTex, Inc. (RailTex), filed a petition for
exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502 from the prior approval requirements of
49 U.S.C. 11323-25 for RailAmerica's acquisition of direct control of
RailTex and indirect control of RailTex's 17 rail carrier subsidiaries
in common with the rail carriers RailAmerica already
controls.1 Under 49 U.S.C. 11323(a)(5), the acquisition of
control of a rail carrier by a person that is not a rail carrier but
that controls any number of rail carriers requires the approval of the
Board. Because RailAmerica controls Class III rail carriers and is
seeking to acquire control of RailTex, which also controls Class III
rail carriers, the proposed transaction is within the jurisdiction of
the Board.2 To minimize the period of uncertainty for
employees and to permit the petitioners and their customers to realize
the projected benefits of the transaction as soon as possible,
petitioners have asked the Board to establish an expedited schedule
under which comments would be due by December 6, 1999, petitioners'
reply would be due by December 15, 1999, and a decision by the Board on
the merits of the proposed exemption would be due on January 14, 2000.
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\1\ Petitioners designated their filing as RAAM-2, which
includes the Petition for Exemption (Volume 1), Public Exhibits
(Volume 2), Confidential Exhibits (Volume 2A), and Highly
Confidential Exhibits (Volume 3).
\2\ If, however, the acquisition of control does not involve a
Class I railroad and is not part of a series of anticipated
transactions that would connect the railroads with each other or any
railroad in the corporate family, the transaction is exempt as a
class. See 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(2). Petitioners state that, given the
indirect connection between two of the involved carriers and the
possible future connection between two other carriers, discussed in
further detail below, the class exemption at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(2) may
not apply to their proposal. Accordingly, petitioners have filed a
petition for exemption rather than a notice of exemption.
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RailAmerica controls 12 Class III rail carriers in the United
States. Petitioners describe RailAmerica's rail subsidiaries as
follows: (1) The Cascade and Columbia River Railroad Company operates
137 miles of rail line in the State of Washington; (2) Dakota Rail,
Inc., operates 43.66 miles of rail line in the State of Minnesota; (3)
Delaware Valley Railway Company, Inc., formerly operated over
approximately 50 miles of rail line in the States of Delaware and
Pennsylvania; (4) The Huron & Eastern Railway Company, Inc. (Huron &
Eastern), operates approximately 171 miles of rail line in the State of
Michigan; (5) the Minnesota Northern Railroad, Inc., operates
approximately 241 miles of rail line in Northwestern Minnesota; (6) the
Otter Tail Valley Railroad Company operates approximately 72 miles of
rail line in Western Minnesota; (7) the Saginaw Valley Railroad
Company, Inc. (Saginaw Valley), operates approximately 65 miles of rail
line in the State of Michigan; (8) the St. Croix Valley Railroad
Company operates over 44.4 miles of rail line in Eastern Minnesota; (9)
the South Central Tennessee Railroad Corporation operates 52 miles of
rail line in the State of Tennessee; (10) the Ventura County Railroad
Company operates approximately 12.09 miles of rail line in the Port of
Hueneme, in the State of California; (11) the West Texas & Lubbock
Railroad Company, Inc., operates approximately 104 miles of rail line
in the State of Texas; and (12) Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway
Corporation (TP&W) operates approximately 369 miles of rail line in the
States of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.
RailTex controls 17 Class III rail carriers in the United States.
Petitioners describe RailTex's rail subsidiaries as follows: (1) The
Austin & Northwestern Railroad Company, Inc. (AUNW), owns a 107-mile
rail line in the States of Texas and New Mexico, which is operated by
AUNW's division, the Texas New Mexico Railroad; (2) the Central Oregon
& Pacific Railroad, Inc., operates over approximately 449 miles of rail
line in the States of Oregon and California; (3) the Central Railroad
Company of Indiana operates approximately 157 miles of rail line in the
States of Indiana and Ohio; (4) the Central Railroad Company of
Indianapolis (CERA) operates approximately 45.6 miles of rail line in
the State of Indiana, and operates as agent for, and in the name of,
Winamac Southern Railroad Company (WSRY) over approximately 44 miles of
rail line in the State of Indiana; (5) the Connecticut Southern
Railroad, Inc., operates approximately 78 miles of rail line in the
States of Connecticut and Massachusetts; (6) the Dallas, Garland &
Northeastern Railroad, Inc., operates approximately 187 miles of rail
line and trackage rights over various railroads in the State of Texas;
(7) the Georgia Southwestern Railroad, Inc., operates 357 miles of rail
line in the States of Georgia and Alabama; (8) the Indiana & Ohio
Central Railroad, Inc., operates approximately 154.6 miles of rail line
in the State of Ohio; (9) the Indiana & Ohio Railway Company operates
approximately 471.1 miles of rail line in the States of Michigan, Ohio
and Indiana; (10) the Indiana Southern Railroad, Inc., operates 176
miles of rail
[[Page 62246]]
line in the State of Indiana; (11) the Mid-Michigan Railroad, Inc.
(MMRR), and its three subsidiaries (the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad,
the Michigan Shore Railroad, and the Texas Northeastern Railroad),
operate approximately 217 miles of rail line in the States of Michigan
and Texas; (12) the Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad Company,
Inc., operates approximately 530 miles of rail line in the States of
Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas; (13) the New England Central Railroad,
Inc., operates approximately 343 miles of rail line in the States of
Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; (14) the North
Carolina & Virginia Railroad Company, Inc., and its two divisions (the
Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad, and the Virginia Southern Railroad),
operate approximately 210 miles of rail line in the States of Virginia
and North Carolina; (15) the Pittsburgh Industrial Railroad, Inc.,
operates 42 miles of rail line in the State of Pennsylvania; (16) the
San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad Company, Inc., operates
approximately 153 miles of rail line in Mexico and the State of
California; and (17) the South Carolina Central Railroad Company, Inc.,
and its division (the Carolina Piedmont Railroad), operate
approximately 95 miles of rail line in the State of South Carolina.
RailAmerica states that its rail carrier subsidiaries do not
connect with any of the RailTex rail carrier subsidiaries except for an
indirect connection between the TP&W and CERA via the WSRY line, which
CERA operates as an agent for WSRY between Kokomo and Logansport, IN.
RailAmerica also states that MMRR may interchange traffic with Huron &
Eastern and Saginaw Valley in or near Saginaw, MI, in the future.
RailAmerica estimates that the transaction will generate approximately
$10 million in annual cost savings. RailAmerica estimates that 21 jobs
will be abolished, 10 at RailTex's headquarters in San Antonio, TX, and
11 on various lines. Petitioners state that no unionized employee will
be affected by the proposed transaction and that they will not abrogate
any collective bargaining agreements.
The Board invites comments on the proposed acquisition. Because the
procedural schedule proposed by the petitioners appears to be adequate
for full and fair development of the record in this proceeding, the
proposed schedule will be adopted. Comments may address such issues as
the rail transportation policy of 49 U.S.C. 10101, the potential for
market abuse, whether as a result of the proposed transaction there is
likely to be substantial lessening of competition, creation of a
monopoly, or restraint of trade in freight surface transportation in
any region of the United States, and whether any anticompetitive
effects of the transaction outweigh the public interest in meeting
significant transportation needs.
Comments (an original and 25 copies) must be in writing, and are
due by December 6, 1999. Additional information may be obtained from
RailAmerica's representative. In addition to submitting an original and
25 copies of all paper documents filed with the Board, parties also
must submit, on 3.5-inch IBM-compatible floppy diskettes (disks) or
compact discs (CDs), copies of all pleadings and attachments (e.g.,
textual materials, electronic workpapers, data bases and spreadsheets
used to develop quantitative evidence) and clearly label pleadings and
attachments and corresponding computer diskettes with an identification
acronym and pleading number. Textual materials must be in, or
convertible by and into, WordPerfect 7.0. Electronic spreadsheets must
be in, or convertible by and into, Lotus 1-2-3 97 Edition, Excel
Version 7.0, or Quattro Pro Version 7.0. A copy of each disk or CD
submitted to the Board should be provided to any other party upon
request.3 The computer data contained on the computer
diskettes submitted will be subject to the protective order
4 granted by decision served on November 3, 1999, in this
proceeding.
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\3\ Parties may individually seek a waiver from the disk-CD
requirement.
\4\ Petitioners filed a motion for protective order (designated
RAAM-1) on October 28, 1999.
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This action will not significantly affect the quality of the human
environment or the conservation of energy resources.
Decided: November 10, 1999.
By the Board, Chairman Morgan, Vice Chairman Clyburn and
Commissioner Burkes.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary .
[FR Doc. 99-29874 Filed 11-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-00-P