Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Notices 71487 

1Based on information in a letter from one of 

NSR’s attorneys, this is the correct name of the 

discontinuing railroad—not Georgia Midland 

Railroad Company, as indicated in the notice. 

2 In Georgia Midland Railroad, Inc.—Acquisition 

and Operation Exemption—Ogeechee Railway 

Company, FD 34466 (STB served Mar. 12, 2004), 

GMR was authorized to sublease and operate the 

Perry line as well as two other lines (the Metter line 

and the Sylvania line) in Georgia. This proceeding 

only involves a portion of the Perry line. 

3The Board will grant a stay if an informed 

decision on environmental issues (whether raised 

by a party or by the Board’s Office of Environmental 

Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) 

cannot be made before the abandonment 

exemption’s effective date. See Exemption of Outof-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any 

request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible 

so that the Board may take appropriate action before 

the exemption’s effective date. 

4Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing 

fee, which is currently set at $1,500. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(25). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 318X); AB 

1059X] 

Norfolk Southern Railway Company— 

Abandonment Exemption—in Crawford 

County, GA; Georgia Midland Railroad, 

Inc.1—Discontinuance of Service 

Exemption—in Crawford County, GA 

Norfolk Southern Railway Company 

(NSR) and Georgia Midland Railroad, 

Inc. (GMR) (collectively, applicants) 

have jointly filed a verified notice of 

exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 

subpart F—Exempt Abandonments and 

Discontinuances of Service and 

Trackage Rights for NSR to abandon, 

and for GMR to discontinue service 

over, a 5.06-mile portion of rail line (the 

Perry line), between milepost FV 90.44 

and milepost FV 95.50, in Roberta, 

Crawford County, Ga.2 The line 

traverses United States Postal Service 

Zip Code 31078. 

Applicants have certified that: (1) No 

local traffic has moved over the line for 

at least 2 years; (2) any overhead traffic 

can be rerouted over other lines; (3) no 

formal complaint filed by a user of rail 

service on the line (or by a state or local 

government entity acting on behalf of 

such user) regarding cessation of service 

over the line either is pending with the 

Surface Transportation Board (Board) or 

with any U.S. District Court or has been 

decided in favor of complainant within 

the 2-year period; and (4) the 

requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c) 

(environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.11 

(transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 

(newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 

1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental 

agencies) have been met. 

As a condition to these exemptions, 

any employee adversely affected by the 

abandonment or discontinuance shall be 

protected under Oregon Short Line 

Railroad—Abandonment Portion 

Goshen Branch Between Firth & 

Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville 

Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To 

address whether this condition 

adequately protects affected employees, 

a petition for partial revocation under 

49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed. 

Provided no formal expression of 

intent to file an offer of financial 

assistance (OFA) has been received, 

these exemptions will be effective on 

December 23, 2010, unless stayed 

pending reconsideration. Petitions to 

stay that do not involve environmental 

issues,3 formal expressions of intent to 

file an OFA under 49 CFR 

§ 1152.27(c)(2),4 and trail use/rail 

banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 

must be filed by December 3, 2010. 

Petitions to reopen or requests for 

public use conditions under 49 CFR 

1152.28 must be filed by December 13, 

2010, with: Surface Transportation 

Board, 395 E Street, SW., Washington, 

DC 20423–0001. 

A copy of any petition filed with the 

Board should be sent to applicants’ 

representatives: (1) Daniel G. Kruger, 

Three Commercial Place, Norfolk, VA 

23510, and (2) Thomas F. McFarland, 

208 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1890, 

Chicago, IL 60604. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemptions 

are void ab initio. 

Applicants have filed a joint 

combined environmental and historic 

report, which addresses the effects, if 

any, of the abandonment and 

discontinuance on the environment and 

historic resources. OEA will issue an 

environmental assessment (EA) by 

November 26, 2010. Interested persons 

may obtain a copy of the EA by writing 

to OEA (Room 1100, Surface 

Transportation Board, Washington, DC 

20423–0001) or by calling OEA, at (202) 

245–0305. Assistance for the hearing 

impaired is available through the 

Federal Information Relay Service 

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339. Comments 

on environmental and historic 

preservation matters must be filed 

within 15 days after the EA becomes 

available to the public. 

Environmental, historic preservation, 

public use, or trail use/rail banking 

conditions will be imposed, where 

appropriate, in a subsequent decision. 

Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 

1152.29(e)(2), NSR shall file a notice of 

consummation with the Board to signify 

that it has exercised the authority 

granted and fully abandoned the line. If 

consummation has not been effected by 

NSR’s filing of a notice of 

consummation by November 23, 2011, 

and there are no legal or regulatory 

barriers to consummation, the authority 

to abandon will automatically expire. 

Board decisions and notices are 

available on our Web site at http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov. 

Decided: November 16, 2010. 

By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Jeffrey Herzig, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2010–29365 Filed 11–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Notice of Application for Approval of 

Discontinuance or Modification of a 

Railroad Signal System 

Pursuant to Title 49 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) Part 235 and 49 

U.S.C. 20502(a), the following railroad 

has petitioned the Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA) seeking approval 

for the discontinuance or modification 

of a signal system, as detailed below. 

Docket Number FRA–2010–0159 

Applicant: BNSF Railway, Mr. James 

LeVere, AVP Signals, BNSF Railway 

Company, 2600 Lou Menk Drive, OOB 

3, Fort Worth, Texas 76131. 

The BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) 

seeks relief from the requirements of 49 

CFR 235.5 to expedite successful 

installation of Positive Train Control 

(PTC) mandated by the Rail Safety 

Improvement Act of 2008. BNSF will be 

updating first generation, nonmicroprocessor based coded track 

circuitry, eliminating certain searchlight 

signal mechanisms, relocating signals to 

more advantageous locations and other 

desired modifications not previously 

addressed, which may otherwise require 

the submission of an application. 

In requesting this waiver, BNSF 

proposes to perform minimal 

modifications to existing signal systems, 

while maintaining compliance with part 

236 in the same manner and process as 

provided for under 49 CFR 

235.7(c)(24)(vi). Providing identification 

of the proposed changes to FRA’s 

regional office having jurisdiction in the 

affected area would expedite desired 

modification of existing signal systems 

in preparation for the installation of 

PTC, while reducing the administrative 

workload for both FRA and BNSF. 

Additionally, this relief would reduce 

the approval delay, while still providing 

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