B.C.D. 02-19 MAR 0 8 2002

EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION

Dickinson Osceola Railroad Association

This is the decision ofthe Railroad Retirement Board with respect to the status of

the Dickinson Osceola Railroad Association (DORA) as an employer under the

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

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

In a decision ofthe Surface Transportation Board dated February 23, 2001, DORA

was granted an exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire by purchase and

operate approximately 37.21 miles ofrail line located within the state ofIowa.

According to a letter from Mr. John D. Heffner, an attorney representing DORA,

DORA is a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity established by the Osceola County

Development Commission for the purpose ofpreserving rail service on a branch

line in northwestern Iowa.

Originally it was intended by the Development Commission that DORA would

purchase the branch line and lease it to a short line rail operator. However, DORA

was not able to complete this planned transaction. Rather, DORA actually

purchased the rail line on April 2, 2001, and promptly resold the line to its contract

operator, General Railway Corporation d/b/a Iowa Northwestern Railroad, an

employer covered by the Acts (BA 9846). The evidence ofrecord does not clearly

identify the date that DORA sold the lines to Grand Railway Corporation d/b/a

Iowa Northwestern Railroad. Authority for this transaction was obtained in STB

Finance Docket No. 34037, decided May 4, 2001.

DORA no longer owns the rail line and has no ability to operate a railroad. DORA

has never had as one of its primary business goals the making of a profit from

railroad service. Rather, DORA exists solely to facilitate and maintain rail sendee

in northwestern Iowa.

There is no doubt that for the period after DORA sold the rail line to the General

Railway Corporation d/b/a Iowa Northwestern Railroad that it is not an employer

under the Acts. For the period after DORA acquired the rail line and before it sold

the rail line, it is also not an employer under the Acts.
Dickinson Osceola Railroad Association

In Board Coverage Decision 00-47, November 7, 2000, the Board refined the

standard we employ to determine when an entity that has its railroad functions

performed by another would be found to be an employer under the Acts. In that

coverage decision, the Board set forth a three-part test that it would use to

determine the employer status ofsuch an entity. The three-part test is as follows:

1) whether the entity does not have as a primary purpose to profit

from railroad activities;

2) whether the entity does not operate or retain the capacity to operate

the rail line;

3) whether the operator ofthe rail line is already covered under the

[RRA and RUIA]. B.C.D 00-47, at pages 4-5.

DORA is not an employer under the three-part test set forth in B.C.D. 00-47.

DORA was established by a public entity that set up DORA to facilitate the

maintenance ofrail service on a branch line in northwestern Iowa. As such, it does 

not have a primary purpose of profiting from rail activities. DORA does not retain

the capacity to operate a rail line. Finally, DORA never operated over the rail line.

In conclusion, under the test set forth in B.C.D. 00-47, DORA is not covered by

the RRA and the RUIA for the period that it actually owned the rail line.

(Jerome F. Kever