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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 128 / Monday, July 6, 2015 / Notices
their interests through merger or a
common-control arrangement are
required to file an application for prior
approval and authority with the Board.
Number of hours
per response
See 49 U.S.C. 10901–03 and 11323–26.
Type of filing
under 49 U.S.C.
Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, persons may
10901–03 and
seek an exemption from many of the
11323–26
application requirements of §§ 10901–
Applications ....................
524 03 and 11323–26 by filing with the
Petitions * ........................
58 Board a petition for exemption or notice
Notices * ..........................
19 of exemption in lieu of an application.
* Under § 10502, petition for exemptions and The collection by the Board of these
notices of exemption are permitted in lieu of applications, petitions, and notices
an application.
enables the Board to meet its statutory
duty to regulate the referenced rail
Total ‘‘Non-hour Burden’’ Cost (such
transactions. See Table—Statutory and
as filing fees): None identified. Filings
Regulatory Provisions below.
are submitted electronically to the
Retention Period: Information in these
Board.
collections is maintained by Board for
Needs and Uses: Under the Interstate
10 years, after which it is transferred to
Commerce Act, as amended by the ICC
the National Archives as permanent
Termination Act of 1995, Public Law
records.
104–88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995), persons
DATES: Comments on this information
seeking to construct, acquire or operate
collection should be submitted by
a line of railroad and railroads seeking
to abandon or to discontinue operations September 4, 2015.
over a line of railroad or, in the case of
ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to
two or more railroads, to consolidate
Chris Oehrle, Surface Transportation

TABLE—ESTIMATED HOURS PER
RESPONSE

Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington,
DC 20423–0001, or to [email protected].
When submitting comments, please
refer to ‘‘Statutory Licensing and
Consolidation Authority.’’ For further
information regarding this collection,
contact [email protected] or Chris Oehrle
at (202) 245–0271. [Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) for the hearing
impaired: (800) 877–8339.] Filings made
in responses to this collection are
available on the Board’s Web site at
www.stb.dot.gov.
Under
§§ 10901–03 and 11323–26, an
application is required to seek authority
under these sections, unless an
applicant receives an exemption under
49 U.S.C. 10502. Respondents seeking
such authority from the Board must
submit certain information required
under the Board’s related regulations.
The table below shows the statutory and
regulatory provisions under which the
Board requires the information
collections that are the subject of this
notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

TABLE—STATUTORY AND REGULATORY PROVISIONS *
Statutory
provision

Certificate required
Construct, Acquire, or Operate Railroad Lines ...............................................................................
Short Line purchases by Class II and Class III Rail Carriers .........................................................
Abandonments and Discontinuances ..............................................................................................
Railroad Acquisitions, Trackage Rights, and Leases ......................................................................

49
49
49
49

U.S.C.
U.S.C.
U.S.C.
U.S.C.

10901 .......
10902 .......
10903 .......
11323–26 ..

Regulations
49
49
49
49

CFR
CFR
CFR
CFR

Part 1150.
1150.41–45.
Part 1152.
Part 1180.

* STB regulations may be viewed on the STB Web site under E-Library > Reference: STB Rules (http://www.stb.dot.gov/stb/elibrary/ref_
stbrules.html).

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Under the PRA, a Federal agency
conducting or sponsoring a collection of
information must display a currently
valid OMB control number. A collection
of information, which is defined in 44
U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c),
includes agency requirements that
persons submit reports, keep records, or
provide information to the agency, third
parties, or the public. Under
§ 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, Federal
agencies are required to provide, prior
to an agency’s submitting a collection to
OMB for approval, a 60-day notice and
comment period through publication in
the Federal Register concerning each
proposed collection of information,
including each proposed extension of an
existing collection of information.
Dated: June 29, 2015.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2015–16447 Filed 7–2–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915–01–P

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
Information Collection Activities:
Statutory Authority To Preserve Rail
Service
AGENCY:

Surface Transportation Board,

DOT.
60-day notice and request for
comments.

ACTION:

As required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501–
3519 (PRA), the Surface Transportation
Board (STB or Board) gives notice of its
intent to seek from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) an
extension of the information collections
required under 49 U.S.C. 10904–05 and
10907, and 16 U.S.C. 1247(d).
Under these statutory provisions, the
Board administers programs designed to
preserve railroad service or rail rightsof-way. When a line is proposed for
abandonment, affected shippers,
communities, or other interested
persons may seek to preserve rail

SUMMARY:

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service by filing with the Board: An
offer of financial assistance (OFA) to
subsidize or purchase a rail line for
which a railroad is seeking
abandonment (49 U.S.C. 10904),
including a request for the Board to set
terms and conditions of the financial
assistance; a request for a public use
condition (§ 10905); or a trail-use
request (16 U.S.C. 1247(d)). Similarly,
when a line is placed on a system
diagram map identifying it as an
anticipated or potential candidate for
abandonment, affected shippers,
communities, or other interested
persons may seek to preserve rail
service by filing with the Board a feeder
line application to purchase the
identified rail line (§ 10907). When a
line is so placed on the map, the feeder
line applicant need not demonstrate that
the public convenience and necessity
require or permit the sale of the line, but
need only pay the constitutional
minimum value to acquire it.
Additionally, the railroad owning the
rail line subject to abandonment must,
in some circumstances, provide

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 128 / Monday, July 6, 2015 / Notices

for 10 years, after which it is transferred
to the National Archives as permanent
records.
Number of
DATES: Comments on this information
Type of filing
hours per
collection should be submitted by
response
September 4, 2015.
Offer of Financial Assistance
32 hours ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to
Chris Oehrle, Surface Transportation
OFA—Railroad Reply to Request for Information .........
10 hours Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington,
OFA—Request to Set Terms
DC 20423–0001, or to [email protected].
and Conditions ..................
4 hours When submitting comments, please
Request for Public Use Conrefer to ‘‘Statutory Authority to Preserve
dition ..................................
2 hours Rail Service.’’ For further information
Feeder Line Application ........
70 hours
regarding this collection, contact PRA@
Trail-Use Request .................
4 hours
Trail-Use Request Extension
4 hours stb.dot.gov or Chris Oehrle at (202) 245–
0271. [Federal Information Relay
Total ‘‘Non-hour Burden’’ Cost: None Service (FIRS) for the hearing impaired:
(800) 877–8339.] Filings made in
identified. Filings are submitted
responses to this collection are available
electronically to the Board.
on the Board’s Web site at
Needs and Uses: Under the Interstate
www.stb.dot.gov.
Commerce Act, as amended by the ICC
Termination Act of 1995, Public Law
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
104–88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995), and
Respondents seeking authority from the
Description of Collections
Section 8(d) of the National Trails
Board to preserve rail lines must submit
System Act, 16 U.S.C. 1247(d) (Trails
certain information required under the
Title: Statutory Authority to Preserve
Act), persons seeking to preserve rail
Board’s related regulations and, in some
Rail Service.
service may file pleadings before the
circumstances, railroads seeking to
OMB Control Number: 2140–0022.
Board to acquire or subsidize a rail line
abandon a line must disclose certain
STB Form Number: None.
for continued service, or to impose a
information to the offeror or applicant.
Offer of Financial Assistance. When a
trail use or public use condition. Under
Type of Review: Extension without
rail line would otherwise be approved
49 U.S.C. 10904, the filing of an OFA
change.
starts a process of negotiations to define for abandonment (or discontinuance),
Respondents: Affected shippers,
any financially responsible person may
the financial assistance needed to
communities, or other interested
seek to acquire the line for continued
purchase or subsidize the rail line
persons seeking to preserve rail service
sought for abandonment. Once the OFA rail service (after abandonment has been
over rail lines that are proposed or
approved), or may seek to temporarily
is filed, the offeror may request
identified for abandonment, and
subsidize continued operations by the
additional information from the
railroads that are required to provide
incumbent railroad (after abandonment
railroad, which the railroad must
information to the offeror or applicant.
or discontinuance has been approved),
provide. If the parties cannot agree to
by filing an OFA under 49 U.S.C. 10904
Number of Respondents: 40
the sale or subsidy, either party also
and 49 CFR 1152.27. An OFA may be
(including informational filings required may file a request for the Board to set
the terms and conditions of the financial submitted to the Board as soon as the
of railroads).
railroad seeks abandonment (or
assistance. Under § 10905, a public use
Frequency: On occasion.
discontinuance) authority. Once an OFA
request allows the Board to impose a
is submitted, the abandoning railroad
180-day public use condition on the
TABLE—NUMBER OF YEARLY
must, upon request, promptly provide to
abandonment of a rail line, permitting
RESPONSES
any party considering an OFA and to
the parties to negotiate a public use for
the Board an estimate of the annual
the rail line. Under § 10907, a feeder
Number of
Type of filing
subsidy or minimum purchase price; a
line
application
provides
the
basis
for
filings
report on the physical condition of line;
authorizing an involuntary sale of a rail
and data on traffic, revenues, net
Offer of Financial Assistance
1 line. Finally, under 16 U.S.C. 1247(d), a
liquidation value, and the cost to
trail-use request, if agreed upon by the
OFA—Railroad Reply to Rerehabilitate to class I (minimum) track
quest for Information .........
2 abandoning carrier, requires the Board
standards. If the parties are not able to
to condition the abandonment by
OFA—Request to Set Terms
and Conditions ..................
1 issuing a Notice of Interim Trail Use
agree upon the purchase price or
Request for Public Use Consubsidy, then, to move forward, either
(NITU) or Certificate of Interim Trail
dition ..................................
1 Use (CITU), permitting the parties to
party may ask the Board to set the price
Feeder Line Application ........
1 negotiate an interim trail use/rail
or subsidy, which will be binding upon
Trail-Use Request .................
27 banking agreement for the rail line.
the parties if the offeror chooses to
Trail-Use Request Extension
94
The collection by the Board of these
accept the terms set by the Board and
offers, requests, and applications, and
proceed with the purchase.
Public Use Request. Any person may
the railroad’s replies (when required),
Total Burden Hours (annually
request that the Board prohibit an
enables the Board to meet its statutory
including all respondents): 612 hours
abandoning railroad from disposing of
duty to regulate the referenced rail
(sum total of estimated hours per
the right-of-way—for up to 180 days—
transactions. See Table—Statutory and
response X number of responses for
without first offering the right-of-way
Regulatory Provisions below.
each type of filing).
Retention Period: Information in these (on reasonable terms) for other suitable
collections is maintained by the Board
public purposes (such as mass transit,

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information to the applicant or offeror.
The relevant information collections are
described in more detail below.
Comments are requested concerning:
(1) The accuracy of the Board’s burden
estimates; (2) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; (3) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on the respondents,
including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology when
appropriate; and (4) whether the
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the Board, including
whether the collection has practical
utility. Submitted comments will be
summarized and included in the
Board’s request for OMB approval.

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 128 / Monday, July 6, 2015 / Notices
pipeline, transmission lines, recreation,
etc.). Such requests are governed by 49
U.S.C. 10905 and 49 CFR 1152.28.
Feeder Line Application. When a line
has been identified on a railroad’s
system diagram map as a potential
candidate for abandonment (or
discontinuance), but before
abandonment (or discontinuance)
authority has been sought, any
financially responsible person (other
than a Class I or II railroad) may, by
filing a feeder line application under 49
U.S.C. 10907 and 49 CFR 1151, seek to
acquire the line for continued rail
service under the forced sale provisions
of the feeder railroad development
program.
Trail-Use Request. The Trails Act
provides a mechanism whereby any
interested person may seek to
‘‘railbank’’ a rail right-of-way that has
been approved for abandonment and
use the property in the interim as a
recreational trail. The Board has a
ministerial role in this process; under 49
CFR 1152.29, interested persons may
submit a request to the Board for a trailuse condition, and if the statutory
conditions are met, the Board must
authorize the parties to negotiate a trailuse agreement by issuing a CITU, or, in
an exemption proceeding, a NITU. The
CITU or NITU typically permit
negotiations for 180 days, but the
negotiations can be extended upon
request to the Board. Under the Trails
Act, trail-use agreements are
consensual, not forced. The abandoning
railroad is free to choose whether or not
to enter into or continue negotiations to
transfer (all or part of) the right-of-way
to a trail sponsor.
Under the PRA, a Federal agency
conducting or sponsoring a collection of
information must display a currently
valid OMB control number. A collection
of information, which is defined in 44
U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c),
includes agency requirements that
persons submit reports, keep records, or
provide information to the agency, third
parties, or the public. Under
§ 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, Federal
agencies are required to provide, prior
to an agency’s submitting a collection to
OMB for approval, a 60-day notice and
comment period through publication in
the Federal Register concerning each
proposed collection of information,
including each proposed extension of an
existing collection of information.
Dated: June 29, 2015.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2015–16420 Filed 7–2–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915–01–P

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
[Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 327X)]

Norfolk Southern Railway Company—
Abandonment, Discontinuance of
Trackage Rights and Discontinuance
of Service—in Cleveland and
Rutherford Counties, NC, and
Cherokee County, SC
Norfolk Southern Railway Company
(NSR) has filed a verified notice of
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152
subpart F—Exempt Abandonments and
Discontinuance of Service for NSR to
abandon and discontinue trackage rights
and service as follows: (1) NSR will
abandon approximately 11.85 miles of
rail line, consisting of two line
segments, one of which is located
between milepost SB 144.55 and
milepost SB 154.50 and the other
between milepost SB 158.10 and
milepost SB 160.00; (2) NSR will
discontinue trackage rights granted to it
by CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) over
approximately 22.8 miles of CSXT track,
located between milepost SF 384.6 and
milepost SF 407.4; 1 and (3) NSR will
discontinue service over approximately
3.20 miles of rail line, extending
between milepost SB 144.55 and
milepost SB 141.35 (collectively, the
Line).2 The Line traverses United States
Postal Service Zip Codes 28073, 28152,
28150, 28089, 28114, 28040, 28018,
28043, and 29702.
NSR has certified that: (1) No local
traffic has moved over the Line for at
least two years; (2) no overhead traffic
has moved over the Line for at least two
years and that overhead traffic, if there
were any, could be rerouted over other
lines; (3) no formal complaint has been
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, and
no such complaint is either pending
with the Surface Transportation Board
(Board) or with any U.S. District Court
or has been decided in favor of a
complainant within the two-year period;
and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR
1105.7(c) (environmental report), 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
1 The CSXT track over which NSR has trackage
rights connects the two line segments that NSR
seeks to abandon.
2 NSR states that, although there are different line
segments involved, it operates over them as if they
were a single line.

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38511

abandonment or 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.
Provided no formal expression of
intent to file an offer of financial
assistance (OFA) has been received, this
exemption will be effective on August 5,
2015, unless stayed pending
reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do
not involve environmental issues,3
formal expressions of intent to file an
OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),4 and
trail use/rail banking requests under 49
CFR 1152.29 must be filed by July 16,
2015. Petitions to reopen or requests for
public use conditions under 49 CFR
1152.28 must be filed by July 27, 2015,
with the Surface Transportation Board,
395 E Street SW., Washington, DC
20423–0001.5
A copy of any petition filed with the
Board should be sent to NSR’s
representative: William A. Mullins,
Baker & Miller PLLC, 2401 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC
20037.
If the verified notice contains false or
misleading information, the exemption
is void ab initio.
NSR has filed a combined
environmental and historic report that
addresses the effects, if any, of the
abandonment and discontinuance on
the environment and historic resources.
OEA will issue an environmental
assessment (EA) by July 10, 2015.
Interested persons may obtain a copy of
the EA by writing to OEA (Room 1100,
Surface Transportation Board,
Washington, DC 20423–0001) or by
calling OEA at (202) 245–0305.
Assistance for the hearing impaired is
available through the Federal
Information Relay Service at (800) 877–
8339. Comments on environmental and
historic preservation matters must be
3 The Board will grant a stay if an informed
decision on environmental issues (whether raised
by a party or by the Board’s Office of Environmental
Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation)
cannot be made before the exemption’s effective
date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. 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.
4 Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing
fee, which is currently set at $1,600. See 49 CFR
1002.2(f)(25).
5 NSR states that it may not have title to the entire
right-of-way underlying the rail line segments
proposed for abandonment, which could limit the
availability of the corridor for other public
purposes.

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