27120 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 94 / Friday, May 15, 1998 / Notices

1 Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc., operates in the State

of Mississippi under the trade name of Mississippi

Delta Railroad and in the State of Georgia under the

trade name of Atlantic & Gulf Railroad.

docket at the above address both before

and after that date. To the extent

possible, comments filed after the

closing date will also be considered.

Notice of final action will be published

in the Federal Register pursuant to the

authority indicated below.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30141(a)(1)(B) and

(b)(1); 49 CFR 593.8; delegations of authority

at 49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

Issued on May 11, 1998.

Marilynne Jacobs,

Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.

[FR Doc. 98–13014 Filed 5–14–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33589]

Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co.,

Inc.—Continuance in Control

Exemption—Knoxville & Holston River

Railroad Co., Inc.

Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co.,

Inc. has filed a notice of exemption to

continue in control of the Knoxville &

Holston River Railroad Co., Inc. (KHRR),

upon KHRR’s becoming a Class III

railroad.

The transaction is/was scheduled to

be consummated on or after May 7,

1998.

This transaction is related to STB

Finance Docket No. 33588, Knoxville &

Holston River Railroad Co., Inc.—

Acquisition and Operation Exemption—

Norfolk Southern Railway Company,

wherein KHRR seeks to acquire and

operate 2 lines of track and incidental

overhead trackage rights from the

Norfolk Southern Railway Company.

Applicant controls eight existing

Class III railroads: Albany Bridge

Company, operating in the State of

Georgia; Georgia & Florida Railroad Co.,

Inc., operating in the States of Georgia

and Florida; Gulf & Ohio Railways,

Inc.,1 operating in the State of

Mississippi and Georgia; Lexington &

Ohio Railroad Co., Inc., operating in the

State of Kentucky; Live Oak, Perry &

Georgia Railroad Company, Inc.,

operating in the States of Georgia and

Florida; Piedmont & Atlantic Railroad,

Inc., operating in the State of North

Carolina; Rocky Mount & Western

Railroad Co., Inc., operating in the State

of North Carolina; and Wiregrass Central

Railroad Company, Inc., operating in the

State of Alabama.

Applicant states that: (i) the rail lines

to be operated by KHRR do not connect

with any railroad in the corporate

family; (ii) the transaction is not part of

a series of anticipated transactions that

would connect KHRR’s lines with any

railroad in the corporate family; and (iii)

the 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).

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. Section 11326(c), however,

does not provide for labor protection for

transactions under sections 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 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 transaction.

An original and 10 copies of all

pleadings, referring to STB Finance

Docket No. 33589, must be filed with

the Surface Transportation Board, Office

of the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925

K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each

pleading must be served on Jo A.

DeRoche, Esq., Weiner, Brodsky,

Sidman & Kider, P.C., 1350 New York

Avenue, N.W., Suite 800, Washington,

DC 20005–4797.

Board decisions and notices are

available on our website at

‘‘WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.’’

Decided: May 6, 1998.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12694 Filed 5–13–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33588]

Knoxville & Holston River Railroad Co.,

Inc.—Acquisition and Operation

Exemption—Norfolk Southern Railway

Company

Knoxville & Holston River Railroad

Co., Inc. (KHRR), a noncarrier, has filed

a verified notice of exemption under 49

CFR 1150.31 to acquire from Norfolk

Southern Railway Company (NS) and

operate 2 lines of track in the State of

Tennessee as follows: (1) the North Belt/

River Extension, extending from

milepost 67.1CG (former) = 0.4RFE, in

Knoxville, to the end of the line in

Marbledale, a distance of approximately

15.18 miles; and (2) the K&A Belt

(formerly the South Knoxville Spur),

extending from milepost 0.1, in

Knoxville, to the end of the line, also in

Knoxville, a distance of approximately

3.8 miles. In addition, KHRR will also

acquire incidental overhead trackage

rights on 4 segments of NS’s trackage in

Knoxville as follows: (1) from milepost

0.0C to milepost 3.0C; (2) from milepost

130.0A to milepost 132.4A; (3) from

milepost 0.0KA to milepost 1.1KA; and

(4) approximately 0.1-mile between

NS’s K&A Line and its K&A Belt.

The transaction is scheduled to be

consummated on or after May 7, 1998.

This transaction is related to STB

Finance Docket No. 33589, Gulf & Ohio

Railways Holding Co., Inc.—

Continuance in Control Exemption—

Knoxville & Hoston River Railroad Co.,

Inc., wherein Gulf & Ohio Railways

Holding Co., Inc. has concurrently filed

a verified notice to continue in control

of KHRR upon its becoming a Class III

rail carrier.

If the verified notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio. Petitions to reopen the

proceeding 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

transaction.

An original and 10 copies of all

pleadings, referring to STB Finance

Docket No. 33588, must be filed with

the Surface Transportation Board, Office

of the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925

K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each

pleading must be served on Jo A.

DeRoche, Esq., Weiner, Brodsky,

Sidman & Kider, P.C., 1350 New York

Avenue, NW., Suite 800, Washington,

DC 20005–4797.
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 94 / Friday, May 15, 1998 / Notices 27121

1CCCL is a wholly owned subsidiary of P&W.

CCCL operates in the State of Connecticut, and

P&W operates in the States of Connecticut,

Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.

1The Board will grant a stay if an informed

decision on environmental issues (whether raised

by a party or by the Board’s Section of

Environmental Analysis in its independent

investigation) cannot be made before the

exemption’s effective date. See Exemption of Outof-Service 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.

2Each offer of financial assistance must be

accompanied by the filing fee, which currently is

set at $1000. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

Board decisions and notices are

available on our website at

‘‘WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.’’

Decided: May 6, 1998.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12695 Filed 5–14–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33592]

Providence and Worcester Railroad

Company—Corporate Family

Transaction Exemption—Connecticut

Central Railroad Company

Providence and Worcester Railroad

Company (P&W) and Connecticut

Central Railroad Company (CCCL),1

Class III railroads, have jointly filed a

verified notice of exemption. The

exempt transaction is a merger of CCCL

into P&W.

The earliest the transaction can be

consummated is May 12, 1998, the

effective date of the exemption (7 days

after the notice of exemption was filed).

The proposed merger is intended to

provide more efficient service to

shippers. Moreover, because of P&W’s

multiple connections to other carriers, it

can provide customers on CCCL’s lines

with price and source competition not

previously enjoyed by them.

This is a transaction within a

corporate family of the type specifically

exempted from prior review and

approval under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(3).

The parties state that the transaction

will not result in adverse changes in

service levels, significant operational

changes, or a change in the competitive

balance with carriers outside the

corporate family.

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. Section 11326(c), however,

does not provide for labor protection for

transactions under sections 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 reopen the

proceeding to revoke the exemption

under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) may be filed

at any time. The filing of a petition to

reopen will not automatically stay the

transaction.

An original and 10 copies of all

pleadings, referring to STB Finance

Docket No. 33592, must be filed with

the Surface Transportation Board, Office

of the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925

K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each

pleading must be served on Heidi J.

Eddins, Esq., Providence and Worcester

Railroad Company, 75 Hammond Street,

Worcester, MA 01610.

Board decisions and notices are

available on our website at

‘‘WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.’’

Decided: May 8, 1998.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12819 Filed 5–14–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB–103 (Sub–No. 13X)]

The Kansas City Southern Railway

Company—Abandonment Exemption—

in Webster Parish, LA

The Kansas City Southern Railway

Company (KCS) has filed a notice of

exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart

F—Exempt Abandonments to abandon a

1.70-mile line of its railroad between

milepost 46.78 at the ArkansasLouisiana State Line and milepost 48.48

approximately 200 feet south of Vine

Street in Springhill, Webster Parish, LA.

The line traverses United States Postal

Service Zip Code 71075.

KCS has certified that: (1) no local

traffic has moved over the line for at

least 2 years; (2) there is no overhead

traffic on the line; (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

(environmental reports), 49 CFR 1105.8

(historic reports), 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 this exemption, any

employee adversely affected by the

abandonment and discontinuance shall

be protected under Oregon Short Line R.

Co.—Abandonment—Goshen, 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, this exemption will be

effective on June 14, 1998, unless stayed

pending reconsideration. Petitions to

stay that do not involve environmental

issues,1 formal expressions of intent to

file an OFA under 49 CFR

1152.27(c)(2),2 and trail use/rail banking

requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be

filed by May 26, 1998. Petitions to

reopen or requests for public use

conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must

be filed by June 4, 1998, with: Surface

Transportation Board, Office of the

Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K

Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20423.

A copy of any petition filed with the

Board should be sent to applicant’s

representative: Thomas F. McFarland,

Jr., McFarland & Herman, 20 North

Wacker Drive, Suite, 1330, Chicago, IL

60606–2902.

If the verified notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio.

KCS has filed an environmental report

which addresses the effects, if any, of

the abandonment and discontinuance

on the environment and historic

resources. The Section of Environmental

Analysis (SEA) will issue an

environmental assessment (EA) by May

20, 1998. Interested persons may obtain

a copy of the EA by writing to SEA

(Room 500, Surface Transportation

Board, Washington, DC 20423) or by

calling SEA, at (202) 565–1545.

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