B.C.D. 01-81 NOV 0 5 2001

EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION

Central Gulf Railway, Inc.

This is the determination of the Railroad Retirement Board concerning

the status of Central Gulf Railway, Inc., as an employer under the

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

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

Information regarding Central Gulf was provided by Kevin M. Wild,

Vice President of that company. According to Mr. Wild, Central Gulf 

began doing business January 26, 2001. Mr. Wild states that Central

Gulf has no employees, having contracted with the Terminal Railway (a

division of Alabama State Docks), a covered employer under the Acts

(B.A. No. 4535), to operate the railroad. The operation consists of a

“rail [-] water - rail service [between] Mobile, Alabama and

Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. The Terminal Railway performs the rail

switching operations in Mobile. According to the information provided,

the switching operations in Mexico and water portion of the operation

are also performed by contractors.

In Surface Transportation Board Finance Docket No. 33891, Central

Gulf filed a notice of exemption to lease certain rail lines from the 

Terminal Railway, and operate approximately 4.6 miles of rail line. It

interchanges with Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National,

CSXT, and Norfolk Southern.

Section 1(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. § 231(a)(1)),

insofar as relevant here, defines a covered employer as:

(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 * * *.

Sections 1(a) and 1(b) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45

U.S.C. §§ 351(a) and (b)) contain substantially the same definition, as 

does section 3231 of the Railroad Retirement Tax Act (26 U.S.C.

§ 3231).

BA# 9847
Central Gulf Railway, Inc.

The Board notes that in its decision regarding Railroad Ventures, Inc.

(B.C.D. 00-47), the Board held that an entity that has STB authority to

operate a rail line, but leases or contracts with another to operate the

line in question, is covered under the Acts administered by the Board 

unless the Board determines that the entity is not a carrier. The Board

enunciated a three-part test in B.C.D. No. 00-47 to be applied in making 

this determination. An entity that leases a line to another company or

contracts with another company to operate the line, is a carrier under

the Railroad Retirement Act unless the Board finds that all three of the 

following factors exist: 1) the entity does not have as a primary

business purpose to profit from railroad activities; 2) the entity does not

operate or retain the capacity to operate the rail line; and 3) the

operator of the rail line is already covered or would be found to be

covered under the Acts administered by the Board. There is no

evidence in the record to suggest that Central Gulf Railway is not

intended to profit from its operations. Accordingly, the exception does

not apply, and it is determined that Central Gulf is an employer within

the meaning of section l(a)(l)(i) of the Railroad Retirement Act (45

U.S.C. § 231(a)(l)(i)) and the corresponding provision of the Railroad 

Unemployment Insurance Act as ofJanuary 26, 2001, the date as of

which it commenced operations.

Cherryl T. Thomas

" Jerome F. Kever