# Annotated Laws Relating to Conrail

Conrail (officially the Consolidated Rail Corporation) was a major railroad in the Northeast U.S. from 1976 to 1999. It was set up by the Federal Government to take over the bankrupt railroads in the Northeast, and eventually became profitable and was split between two competing systems (CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway).

## Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973

Public Law 93-236 signed January 2, 1974
| (a) Findings The Congress finds and declares that— Essential rail service in the midwest and northeast region of the United States is provided by railroads which are today insolvent and attempting to undergo reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act. This essential rail service is threatened with cessation or significant curtailment because of the inability of the trustees of such railroads to formulate acceptable plans for reorganization. This rail service is operated over rail properties which were acquired for a public use, but which have been permitted to deteriorate and now require extensive rehabilitation and modernization. The public convenience and necessity require adequate and efficient rail service in this region and throughout the Nation to meet the needs of commerce, the national defense, the environment, and the service requirements of passengers, United States mail, shippers, States and their political subdivisions, and consumers. Continuation and improvement of essential rail service in this region is also necessary to preserve and maintain adequate national rail services and an efficient national rail transportation system. Rail service and rail transportation offer economic and environmental advantages with respect to land use, air pollution, noise levels, energy efficiency and conservation, resource allocation, safety, and cost per ton-mile of movement to such extent that the preservation and maintenance of adequate and efficient rail service is in the national interest. These needs cannot be met without substantial action by the Federal Government. | The rail system in the Northeast was dying. All the major railroads in the region, most notably Penn Central Transportation, had filed for bankruptcy, and it was likely that there would be no fix without the Federal Government playing a major role. |
| (b) Purposes It is therefore declared to be the purpose of Congress in this chapter to provide for— the identification of a rail service system in the midwest and northeast region which is adequate to meet the needs and service requirements of this region and of the national rail transportation system; the reorganization of railroads in this region into an economically viable system capable of providing adequate and efficient rail service to the region; the establishment of the United States Railway Association, with enumerated powers and responsibilities; the establishment of the Consolidated Rail Corporation, with enumerated powers and responsibilities; assistance to States and local and regional transportation authorities for continuation of local rail services threatened with cessation; and necessary Federal financial assistance at the lowest possible cost to the general tax­payer | Thus the United States Railway Association and Conrail will be established. |
| As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires— "Association" means the United States Railway Association, established under section 711 of this title; "Commission" means the Interstate Commerce Commission; "Commuter authority" means any State, local, or regional authority, corporation, or other entity established for purposes of providing commuter service, and includes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the New Jersey Transit Corporation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, any successor agencies, and any entity created by one or more such agencies for the purpose of operating, or contracting for the operation of, commuter service; "Commuter service" means short-haul rail passenger service operated in metropolitan and suburban areas, whether within or across the geographical boundaries of a State, usually characterized by reduced fare, multiple-ride, and commutation tickets, and by morning and evening peak period operations; "Corporation" means the Consolidated Rail Corporation required to be established under section 741 of this title or its successor by merger, consolidation or other form of succession carried out under applicable law for the purpose of changing the State of its incorporation; "effective date of the final system plan" means the date on which the final system plan or any revised final system plan is deemed approved by Congress, in accordance with section 718 of this title; "employee stock ownership plan" means a technique of corporate finance that uses a stock bonus trust or a company stock money purchase pension trust which qualifies under section 401 (a) of title 26 in connection with the financing of corporate improvements, transfers in the ownership of corporate assets, and other capital requirements of a corporation and which is designed to build beneficial equity ownership of shares in the employer corporation into its employees substantially in proportion to their relative incomes, without requiring any cash outlay, any reduction in pay or other employee benefits, or the surrender of any other rights on the part of such employees; "final system plan" means the plan of reorganization for the restructure, rehabilitation, and modernization of railroads in reorganization prepared pursuant to section 716 of this title and approved pursuant to section 718 of this title; "Finance Committee" means the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association established under section 711 (i) of this title; "includes" and variants thereof should be read as if the phrase "but is not limited to" were also set forth; "local or regional transportation authority" includes a political subdivision of a State. "Office" means the Rail Services Planning Office established under section 10361 of title 49; "profitable railroad" means a railroad which is not a railroad in reorganization. The term does not include the Corporation, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or a railroad leased, operated, or controlled by a railroad in reorganization in the region; "rail properties" means assets or rights owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a railroad (or a person owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a railroad) which are used or useful in rail transportation service; except that the term, when used in conjunction with the phrase "railroads leased, operated, or controlled by a railroad in reorganization", shall not include assets or rights owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a Class I railroad which is not wholly owned, operated, or leased by a railroad in reorganization but is controlled by a railroad in reorganization; "railroad" means a rail carrier subject to part A of subtitle IV of title 49. The term includes the Corporation and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation; "railroad in reorganization" means a railroad which is subject to a bankruptcy proceeding and which has not been determined by a court to be reorganizable or not subject to reorganization pursuant to this chapter as prescribed in section 717 (b) of this title. A "bankruptcy proceeding" includes a proceeding pursuant to section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act and an equity receivership or equivalent proceeding; "Region" means the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois; the District of Columbia; and those portions of contiguous States in which are located rail properties owned or operated by railroads doing business primarily in the aforementioned jurisdictions (as determined by the Commission by order); (A) "sale date" means the date on which the initial public offering of the securities of the Corporation is closed under the Conrail Privatization Act [45 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.]; "Secretary" means the Secretary of Transportation or the designated representative of the Secretary; "State" means any State or the District of Columbia; "subsidiary" means any corporation 100 percent of whose total combined voting shares are, directly or indirectly, owned or controlled by the Corporation; and "supplemental transaction" means any transaction set forth in a proposal under section 745 of this title under which the Corporation or a subsidiary thereof would (A) acquire rail properties not designated for transfer or conveyance to it under the final system plan, (B) convey rail properties to a profitable railroad, a subsidiary of the Corporation or, other than as designated in the final system plan, to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation or to a State or a local or regional transportation authority, or to any other responsible person for use in providing rail service, or (C) enter into contractual or other arrangements with any person for the joint use of rail properties or the coordination or separation of rail operations or services. |

## Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981

Pub. L. 97-35, 95 Stat. 644, Aug. 13, 1981.
CHAPTER 20 - NORTHEAST RAIL SERVICE
Sec. 1101. Congressional findings and declarations
Sec. 1102. Statement of purpose
Sec. 1103. Goals and objectives
Sec. 1104. Definitions
Sec. 1105. Judicial review
Sec. 1106. Exemption from transfer taxes and fees; recordation
Sec. 1107. Repealed.
Sec. 1108. Concerted economic action
Sec. 1109. Effectuation of cost reductions
Sec. 1110. Repealed.
Sec. 1111. Repealed.
Sec. 1112. Interstate Commerce Commission proceedings
Sec. 1113. Intercity passenger service
Sec. 1114. Repealed.
Sec. 1115. Redemption of stock
Sec. 1116. Applicability of other laws