Supporting Statementabmaps

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR REQUEST OF OMB APPROVAL
UNDER THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND 5 CFR 1320
The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) requests a 3-year extension of
approval of the procedures requiring rail carriers to submit maps in all abandonment-exemption
proceedings.
A. Justification
1. Statutory and Regulatory Basis. The Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. 10903,
mandates that railroads subject to the Board’s jurisdiction shall not abandon any part of their
lines or discontinue service over any portion of their lines unless authority to do so is first
obtained from the Board. Under section 10502, the Board is required to exempt a transaction or
service from full regulatory requirements when the Board finds that: (1) continued regulation is
not necessary to carry out the rail transportation policy of 49 U.S.C. 10101; and (2) either (a) the
transaction or service is of limited scope, or (b) regulation is not necessary to protect shippers
from the abuse of market power. The Board’s abbreviated procedures for obtaining
abandonment or discontinuance authority pursuant to this exemption authority are codified at 49
CFR 1152 and require a railroad to submit a map in sufficient detail to identify the exact location
of the rail line over which service is to be abandoned or discontinued, as well as the line’s
relation to other rail lines in the area, highways, water routes, and population centers. Sections
1152.22(a)(4); 1152.50(d)(iv)(2); 1152.60(b).
2. Use of Information. The maps are used by the Board to determine the precise location
of the rail line on which service is proposed to be abandoned or discontinued. When a petition
for exemption is filed under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the subject maps help the Board to determine the
scope of the proposed abandonment and, to some degree, whether there will be an impact on
shippers. Without this information, the Board could not make the required statutory findings. In
addition, the maps are posted on the Board’s website as part of the Board’s E-Library, a
permanent resource for the public, and they promote participation by interested persons, such as
current and/or potential shippers and others who might want either to make an offer to continue
rail service under 49 U.S.C. 10904; to acquire the line as a trail under the National Trails System
Act, 16 U.S.C 1247(d); or to acquire the line for another public purpose under 49 U.S.C. 10905.
3. Reduction of Burden. To reduce the burden of producing this map, the Board permits
carriers to render the map in the form of their choice. The required map may be hand drawn,
printed, or produced by any available technology.
4. Identification of Duplication. The information requested does not duplicate any other
information available to the Board.
5. Impact on Small Business. The Board has determined that the map requirement does
not place any great burden on any party to any abandonment-exemption proceeding. A map may
be hand drawn, provided that it shows the location of the rail line at issue and its relation to other
rail lines in the area, highways, water routes, and population centers. Prior to the adoption of the

map-filing requirement, railroads were already providing maps in most abandonment-exemption
proceedings.
6. Consequence if Collection Not Conducted or Less Frequent. These maps are required
when a carrier initiates a proceeding to seek authority to abandon or discontinue service on a
line. If carriers did not submit such a map, the Board would lack the information that it needs for
reasoned decision making, and members of the public would lack notice regarding
discontinuation and abandonment proposals that potentially affect them.
7. Special Circumstances. The Board’s general practice, codified at 49 CFR 1104.3(a),
is to require a party to any proceeding to submit an original and 10 copies of every document
filed by that party in that proceeding. The Board has found that a minimum of ten copies are
necessary so that copies can be disseminated to the numerous staff and Board members who are
involved in drafting and approving decisions, with a copy placed as well in the Board’s public
reading room. Requiring ten copies reduces the burden on the Board of producing additional
copies and helps the Board keep within the deadline for processing requests for authorization
under the expedited abandonment-exemption procedures. Pursuant to the Independent Offices
Appropriations Act and OMB Circular Number A-25, were the Board to reduce the number of
copies required, the filing fee associated with this collection would have to be increased, to
reflect the additional cost to the Board. Parties filing electronically, however, are not required to
submit copies.
8. Outside Consultations. The Board published a 60-day notice requesting comments on
this collection on November 12, 2009, at 74 Fed. Reg. 58368. No comments were received.
However, an informal survey of respondents was conducted by phone to obtain objective
information regarding the burden of this collection on respondents.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents. No payments or gifts to respondents are made.
10. Confidentiality. No assurance of confidentiality is made in connection with the filing
of the maps.
11. Sensitive Information. No information of a sensitive nature is requested.

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12. Hourly Collection Burden to Respondents. The Board estimates that map
preparation takes an average of one hour per abandonment-exemption proceeding. This estimate
is based on our own understanding of the mechanics of map preparation, and is confirmed by the
result of an informal survey of sample respondents. In our survey, the average hourly burden
reported was one hour, with fifty percent of respondents indicating that production of the map
required less than one half hour. The map can be a fairly simple (printed, drawn, or otherwise
rendered on paper). In addition, for their own business reasons, most railroads maintain maps of
their lines, and these maps are frequently used by railroads at no additional cost to them to meet
the Board’s map-filing requirement. Thus, the cost of producing any single such map is often
very small, and copying costs are minimal.
13. Total Annualized Non-hourly Cost to Respondents. There are no known non-hourly
costs associated with this collection.
14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government and Respondents. This collection does not
result in increased costs to the government and may actually decrease costs. Even if maps were
not required as part of a respondent’s filing, Board personnel (both clerical and professional)
would need to process abandonment-exemption proceedings. Therefore, little or no additional
cost to the government is involved in the processing of the map. On the other hand, because the
maps clarify the proposal for those involved in the decision making process, the maps may
provide cost savings to the Board.
15. Changes in Burden Hours. In our 2006 request for approval, we estimated that we
would receive maps from 91 respondents, at an average of one hour per response, resulting in a
total of 91 burden hours. The actual average number of annual respondents since then has been
80. Therefore, the total annual burden hours for respondents is now estimated at 80 hours. The
entire decrease in burden hours is due to decrease in the estimated total number of respondents.
16. Statistical Use. Not applicable. There are no plans to publish for statistical use
information derived from these maps.
B. Collection of Information for Employing Statistical Methods.
Not applicable. This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

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