[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34732-34733]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-16464]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33982]


Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co., Inc., H. Peter Claussen and 
Linda C. Claussen--Continuance in Control Exemption--Three Notch 
Railroad Co., Inc.

    Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co., Inc. (GORH), a noncarrier, and H. 
Peter and Linda C. Claussen (Claussens), have filed a notice of 
exemption to continue in control of Three Notch Railroad Co., Inc. 
(TNR), upon TNR's becoming a carrier.
    The transaction was scheduled to be consummated on or shortly after 
June 8, 2001, the effective date of the exemption.
    This transaction is related to STB Finance Docket No. 33981, Three 
Notch Railroad Co., Inc.--Acquisition, Lease and Operation Exemption--
Alabama & Florida Railway Company, wherein

[[Page 34733]]

TNR seeks to acquire, lease and operate a rail line from Alabama & 
Florida Railway Company.
    At the time it filed this notice, GORH owned and controlled seven 
existing Class III rail carriers: Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc., which 
operates in Northwestern Mississippi under the trade name Mississippi 
Delta Railroad (MSDR); \1\ Knoxville & Holston River Railroad Co., 
Inc., which operates in East Tennessee; Laurinburg & Southern Railroad 
Co., Inc., which operates in North Carolina; Lexington & Ohio Railroad 
Co., Inc., which operates in North Central Kentucky; Piedmont & 
Atlantic Railroad, Inc., which operates in Northwestern North Carolina 
under the trade name of Yadkin Valley Railroad; Rocky Mount & Western 
Railroad Co., Inc., which operates in Central North Carolina; and 
Wiregrass Central Railroad Company, Inc., which operates in 
Southeastern Alabama. Claussens, who wholly own GORH, also own and 
control H&S Railroad, Inc., which operates in Alabama.
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    \1\ The line is the subject of a petition for exemption in 
County of Coahoma, Mississippi--Abandonment Exemption--in 
Tallahatchie and Coahoma Counties, MS, STB Docket No. AB-579X, and 
Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc., d/b/a Mississippi Delta Railroad--
Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in Tallahatchie and Coahoma 
Counties, MS, STB Docket No. AB-580X, that was granted by the Board 
by decision served June 15, 2001. In that decision, the Board 
approved the abandonment and discontinuance of service over the 
County of Coahoma's 51.06-mile rail line consisting of: (1) The 
18.6-mile Lula Segment between milepost 55.40 near Lula and milepost 
74.00 near Lyon, MS; and (2) the 32.46-mile Swan Lake Line between 
milepost 74.00 near Lyon and milepost 79.00 near Clarksdale, MS, and 
between milepost 76.54 near Clarksdale and milepost 104.00 at Swan 
Lake. The Board also approved the discontinuance of both incidental 
overhead trackage rights and the lease operating rights over 1.39 
miles of an Illinois Central Railroad Company (IC) rail line between 
milepost 104.00 and the connection with IC's main line at milepost 
105.39. This discontinuance involves MSDR's entire railroad 
operation.
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    GORH and the Claussens state that: (1) The railroads do not connect 
with each other or any railroad in their corporate family; (2) the 
continuance-in-control is not part of a series of anticipated 
transactions that would connect the eight railroads with each other or 
any railroad in their corporate family; and (3) 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. 33982, 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 Troy W. Garris, Weiner Brodsky Sidman & Kider, PC, 1300 19th 
Street, NW., Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20036-1609.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our website at 
``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.''


    Decided: June 22, 2001.
    By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-16464 Filed 6-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-00-P