B.C.D. 01-83

EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION

Keokuk Electric Railway, Inc.

DEC 0 3 2001

This is the determination of the Railroad Retirement Board concerning

the status of Keokuk Electric Railway, Inc., as an employer under the

Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. § 231 et seq.) and the Railroad

Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. § 351 et seq.).

Information regarding Keokuk was provided by R. L. Taylor, President of 

Keokuk. In 1993, Mr. Taylor, doing business as Keokuk Electric

Railway, provided “sporadic tourist passenger service between Keokuk, 

Iowa and LaHarpe, Illinois. * * *” This service was again provided in

1996. The enterprise was incorporated in 1996 as Keokuk Electric

Railway, Inc., and ceased shortly thereafter. Keokuk plans to begin

operations in 2002 as an excursion railroad operation within the state of

Iowa. It will operate local tourist electric trolley cars within the city of

Keokuk and on the city-owned bridge.

Section 1(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act defines the term

"employer," to include

(i) any carrier by railroad subject to the jurisdiction of the

Surface Transportation Board under Part A of subtitle IV of title

49, United States Code;

(ii) any company which is directly or indirectly owned or 

controlled by, or under common control with, one or more

employers as defined in paragraph (i) of this subdivision, and which

operates any equipment or facility or performs any service (except 

trucking service, casual service, and the casual operation of

equipment or facilities) in connection with the transportation of 

passengers or property by railroad, or the receipt, delivery,

elevation, transfer in transit, refrigeration or icing, storage, or

handling of property transported by railroad * * *.
Keokuk Electric Railway, Inc.

A virtually identical definition is found in sections 1(a) and (b) of the

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. § 351(a) & (b)).

Section 10501 of Title 49 of the United States Code provides in pertinent

part that the Surface Transportation Board has jurisdiction over rail

carrier:

* * * transportation in the United States between a place in -

(A) a State and a place in the same or another State as part

of the interstate rail network. [49 U.S.C. § 10501(a)(2)(A).]

The rail service to be provided by Keokuk may be characterized as a

tourist or excursion railroad operated solely for recreational and

amusement purposes. Since passengers are to be transported solely

within one state, under section 10501(a)(2)(A) above, Keokuk would not

be subject to Surface Transportation Board jurisdiction and would

therefore also not fall within the definition of "employer" set out in

section l(a)(l)(i) of the Railroad Retirement Act. Therefore, Keokuk will

not be a carrier by railroad. There is also no evidence in the record that

it is under common control with a carrier or is intended to provide any

services to a carrier1.

1 In regard to the operations which were performed in 1993 and 1996 by R. L. Taylor

doing business as Keokuk Electric Railway, it should be noted that section 1(a)(2) of

the Railroad Retirement Act provides in pertinent part that “the term ‘employer’

shall not include - * * * (ii) any street, interurban, or suburban electric railway,

unless such railway is operating as part of a general diesel-railroad system of

transportation * * *.” R. L. Taylor doing business as Keokuk Electric Railway in 

1993 and 1996 was an interurban electric railway not operating as part of a general 

diesel-railroad system of transportation as described in section 1(a)(2). Accordingly,

R. L. Taylor doing business as Keokuk Electric Railway in 1993 and 1996 was not an

employer under the Acts.
-3-

Keokuk Electric Railway, Inc.

The Board finds that Keokuk is not a covered employer under the

Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts.

CherryK/T. Thomas

Qt.

V. M. Speakman, Jr.

IQ+\U> 3-

verome F. Kever