84094 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices 

1A redacted version of the agreement was filed 

with the verified notice of exemption. Applicants 

simultaneously filed a motion for protective order 

under 49 CFR 1104.14(b). That motion will be 

addressed in a separate decision. 

2The verified notice lists the railroads as follows: 

(1) The Tennessee Southern Railroad Company, 

LLC; (2) Rarus Railway, LLC, d/b/a Butte, Anaconda 

& Pacific Railway Co.; (3) Utah Central Railway 

Company, LLC; (4) Sacramento Valley Railroad, 

LLC; (5) The Louisiana and North West Railroad 

Company LLC; (6) Temple & Central Texas Railway, 

LLC; (7) the Columbia & Cowlitz Railway, LLC; (8) 

the DeQueen and Eastern Railroad, LLC; (9) the 

Golden Triangle Railroad, LLC; (10) the Patriot 

Woods Railroad, LLC; (11) the Texas, Oklahoma & 

Eastern Railroad, LLC; (12) Georgia Northeastern 

Railroad Company, LLC; (13) the Kingman Terminal 

Railroad, LLC; and (14) West Belt Railway LLC 

(collectively, the Subsidiary Railroads). 

3The verified notice was initially submitted on 

November 17, 2020. Applicants filed supplements 

on November 18, December 1, and December 10, 

2020. December 10, 2020, therefore, is deemed the 

filing date of the verified notice. 

also states that ‘‘[n]o Soo [Line] 

employees will be displaced[,]’’ and that 

WSOR ‘‘will continue in [its] capacity’’ 

as the operator of the Line following the 

proposed transaction. (Id.) Because no 

employees would be adversely affected 

by the requested waiver of the 60-day 

notice period, the Board will grant the 

waiver. See, e.g., Wis. & S. R.R.— 

Acquis. & Operation Exemption—City of 

Fitchburg, Wis., FD 35838, slip op. at 4 

(STB served Nov. 18, 2014). 

Employee Protection. Under 49 U.S.C. 

10502(g), the Board may not use its 

exemption authority to relieve a carrier 

of its statutory obligation to protect the 

interests of its employees. Section 

10902(d) provides for labor protection 

in line acquisitions by Class II rail 

carriers. As a condition to this 

exemption, any employees affected by 

the acquisition will be protected as 

required by 49 U.S.C. 10902(d), subject 

to the standards and procedures 

established in Wisconsin Central Ltd.— 

Acquisition Exemption—Lines of Union 

Pacific Railroad, 2 S.T.B. 218 (1997), 

aff’d in relevant part sub nom. 

Association of American Railroads v. 

STB, 162 F.3d 101 (DC Cir. 1998). 

Environmental and Historic Review. 

Under 49 CFR 1105.6(c)(1), this action, 

which will not result in significant 

changes in carrier operations, is 

categorically excluded from 

environmental review. Similarly, under 

49 CFR 1105.8(b)(1), no historic report 

is required because the subject 

transaction is for continued rail service, 

WSOR has indicated no plans to alter 

railroad properties 50 years old or older, 

and any abandonment would be subject 

to Board jurisdiction. 

Effective Date. WSOR requests 

authority to acquire and operate the 

Line by December 28, 2020, so that the 

parties may close the transaction before 

the end of the year. The exemption will 

take effect on December 28, 2020, unless 

it is stayed. 

It is ordered: 

1. Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the Board 

exempts from the prior approval 

requirements of 49 U.S.C. 10902 

WSOR’s acquisition of and operation 

over the Line, subject to the employee 

protective conditions implementing 49 

U.S.C. 10902(d) as provided in this 

decision. 

2. Notice of the exemption will be 

published in the Federal Register. 

3. WSOR’s request for a waiver of the 

advance notice requirement under 49 

CFR 1121.4(h) is granted. 

4. This exemption will become 

effective on December 28, 2020. 

5. Petitions to stay must be filed by 

December 22, 2020. Petitions to reopen 

must be filed by January 4, 2021. 

Decided: December 14, 2020. 

By the Board, Board Members Begeman, 

Fuchs, and Oberman. 

Jeffrey Herzig, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28395 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD 

[Docket No. FD 36462] 

Patriot Rail Transportation Company, 

LLC, Patriot Rail Company LLC, SRTV 

Holdings LLC, SteelRiver Transport 

Ventures LLC, Global Diversified 

Infrastructure Fund (North America) 

LP, First State Infrastructure Managers 

(International) Limited, and Mitsubishi 

UFJ Financial Group, Inc.—Control 

Exemption—Salt Lake Garfield and 

Western Railway Company 

Patriot Rail Transportation Company, 

LLC (Patriot), Patriot Rail Company LLC 

(PRC), SRTV Holdings LLC, SteelRiver 

Transport Ventures LLC, Global 

Diversified Infrastructure Fund (North 

America) LP, First State Infrastructure 

Managers (International) Limited, and 

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 

(collectively, Applicants), all 

noncarriers, have filed a verified notice 

of exemption under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(2) 

to acquire control of Salt Lake Garfield 

and Western Railway Company (SLGW), 

a Class III rail carrier operating in Utah. 

According to the verified notice, PRC, 

on behalf of its subsidiary, Patriot, has 

entered into a Purchase and Sale 

Agreement with SLGW, Caballero, 

L.L.C., and Caballero 2 LLC.1 Applicants 

state that Patriot will acquire a 100% 

controlling interest in SLGW. The 

verified notice states that Patriot 

currently controls 14 class III railroads.2

The verified notice indicates that: (1) 

SLGW will not connect with any of the 

Subsidiary Railroads; (2) the acquisition 

of control is not part of a series of 

anticipated transactions that would 

connect SLGW or any of the Subsidiary 

Railroads with each other; and (3) the 

proposed transaction does not involve a 

Class I carrier. Therefore, the transaction 

is exempt from the prior approval 

requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323. See 49 

CFR 1180.2(d)(2). 

The verified notice states that 

Applicants intend to control SLGW on 

or before December 15, 2020. However, 

the earliest this transaction may be 

consummated is January 9, 2021, the 

effective date of the exemption (30 days 

after the verified notice was filed).3

Under 49 U.S.C. 10502(g), the Board 

may not use its exemption authority to 

relieve a rail carrier of its statutory 

obligation to protect the interests of its 

employees. However, 49 U.S.C. 11326(c) 

does not provide for labor protection for 

transactions under 49 U.S.C. 11324 and 

11325 that involve only Class III rail 

carriers. Because this transaction 

involves Class III rail carriers only, the 

Board, under the statute, may not 

impose labor protective conditions for 

this transaction. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the 

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) 

may be filed at any time. The filing of 

a petition to revoke will not 

automatically stay the effectiveness of 

the exemption. Petitions to stay must be 

filed no later than December 31, 2020 (at 

least seven days before the exemption 

becomes effective). 

All pleadings, referring to Docket No. 

FD 36462, should be filed with the 

Surface Transportation Board via efiling on the Board’s website. In 

addition, a copy of each pleading must 

be served on Applicants’ representative, 

Louis E. Gitomer, Law Offices of Louis 

E. Gitomer, LLC, 600 Baltimore Ave., 

Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204. 

According to the verified notice, this 

action is categorically excluded from 

environmental review under 49 CFR 

1105.6(c) and from historic preservation 

reporting requirements under 49 CFR 

1105.8(b). 

Board decisions and notices are 

available at www.stb.gov. 

Decided: December 17, 2020. 

By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Director, 

Office of Proceedings. 

Tammy Lowery, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28286 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 


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