Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 168 / Wednesday, August 31, 2005 / Notices 51859 

1LAJ is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNSF 

Railway Company. 

2The 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 (SEA) 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. 

3Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing 

fee, which currently is set at $1,200. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(25). 

necessitating a twice weekly track 

inspection required under Section 

213.233(c). In its petition, the IN states 

that train activity increases towards the 

end of the week and track maintenance 

is generally scheduled at the beginning 

of the week when maximum staffing is 

available. 

With the weekend excursions 

operating, the track supervisor traverses 

the line on each Monday to inspect the 

track that the passenger train will be 

operating over the upcoming weekend. 

Midweek the supervisor resumes the 

regular inspection of the entire line. The 

petitioner believes that the second 

inspection of the excursion trackage is 

redundant and adds another day to the 

inspection activity without any benefit. 

Interested parties are invited to 

participate in these proceedings by 

submitting their written views, data, or 

comments. FRA does not anticipate 

scheduling a public hearing in 

connection with these proceedings since 

the facts do not appear to warrant a 

hearing. If any interested party desires 

an opportunity for oral comment, they 

should notify FRA, in writing, before 

the end of the comment period and 

specify the basis for their request. 

All communication concerning these 

proceedings should identify the 

appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver 

Petition Docket Number 2005–21963), 

and must be submitted to the Docket 

Clerk, DOT Docket Management 

Facility, Room PL–401 (Plaza Level), 

400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20590. Communications received within 

45 days of the date of this notice will 

be considered by FRA before final 

action is taken. Comments received after 

that date will be considered as far as 

practicable. All written communications 

concerning these proceedings are 

available for examination during regular 

business hours (9 a.m.–5 p.m.) at the 

above facility. All documents in the 

public docket are also available for 

inspection and copying on the Internet 

at the docket facility’s Web site at http:// 

dms.dot.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC on August 25, 

2005. 

Grady C. Cothen, Jr., 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

Standards and Program Development. 

[FR Doc. 05–17277 Filed 8–30–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Docket No. AB–682X] 

The Los Angeles Junction Railway—

Abandonment Exemption—in Los 

Angeles County, CA 

The Los Angeles Junction Railway 

(LAJ) 1 has filed a notice of exemption 

under 49 CFR 1152 subpart F—Exempt 

Abandonments to abandon a 0.46-mile 

line of railroad between LAJ milepost 

2.21 and LAJ milepost 2.67, in 

Maywood, Los Angeles County, CA. The 

line traverses United States Postal 

Service Zip Code 90270. 

LAJ 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 or with 

any U.S. District Court or has been 

decided in favor of complainant within 

the 2-year period; and (4) the 

requirements of 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)(l) (notice to governmental 

agencies) have been met. 

As a condition to this exemption, any 

employees adversely affected by the 

abandonment 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 

September 30, 2005, unless stayed 

pending reconsideration. Petitions to 

stay that do not involve environmental 

issues,2 formal expressions of intent to 

file an OFA under 49 CFR 

1152.27(c)(2),3 and trail use/rail banking 

requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be 

filed by September 12, 2005. Petitions to 

reopen or requests for public use 

conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must 

be filed by September 20, 2005, with: 

Surface Transportation Board, 1925 K 

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. 

A copy of any petition filed with the 

Board should be sent to LAJ’s 

representative: Michael Smith, 311 S. 

Wacker Dr., Suite 3000, Chicago, IL 

60606. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. 

LAJ has filed environmental and 

historic reports which address the 

effects, if any, of the abandonment on 

the environment and historic resources. 

SEA will issue an environmental 

assessment (EA) by September 2, 2005. 

Interested persons may obtain a copy of 

the EA by writing to SEA (Room 500, 

Surface Transportation Board, 

Washington, DC 20423–0001) or by 

calling SEA, at (202) 565–1539. 

[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), LAJ 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 

LAJ’s filing of a notice of consummation 

by August 31, 2006, 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: August 22, 2005. 

By the Board, David M. Konschnik, 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Vernon A. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 05–17140 Filed 8–30–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P