[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78947-78948]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-30610]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[Docket No. AB 355 (Sub-No. 42X]


Springfield Terminal Railway Company--Discontinuance of Service 
Exemption--in Essex County, MA

    Springfield Terminal Railway Company (ST) has filed a verified 
notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F--Exempt 
Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service to discontinue service over 
a line of railroad known as the Manchester and Lawrence Branch in 
Lawrence, Mass., extending from milepost 0.00 to milepost 1.4 in Essex 
County, Mass. (the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal 
Service Zip Code 01840.
    ST has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line 
for at least two 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 two-year period; 
and (4) the requirements at 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 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.

[[Page 78948]]

    Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of 
financial assistance (OFA) to subsidize continued rail service has been 
received, this exemption will become effective on January 31, 2015, 
unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not 
involve environmental issues and formal expressions of intent to file 
an OFA to subsidize continued rail service under 49 CFR 
1152.27(c)(2),\1\ must be filed by January 12, 2015.\2\ Petitions to 
reopen must be filed by January 20, 2015, with the Surface 
Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001.
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    \1\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is 
currently set at $1,600. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
    \2\ Because this is a discontinuance proceeding and not an 
abandonment, trail use/rail banking and public use conditions are 
not appropriate. Likewise, no environmental or historic 
documentation is required here under 49 CFR 1105.6(c) and 49 CFR 
1105.8(b), respectively.
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    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to ST's 
representative: Robert B. Burns, Pan Am Railways, Iron Horse Park, 
Billerica, MA 01862.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at 
WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.

    Decided: December 19, 2014.

    By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2014-30610 Filed 12-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P