Texas Mexican Railway Company, Naval Base Short Line Discontinuance Exemptionin Nueces County, TX

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

[Docket No. AB-97X]

Texas Mexican Railway Company, Naval Base Short Line

Discontinuance Exemption--in Nueces County, TX

The Texas Mexican Railway Company (Tex-Mex) has filed a notice of

exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and

Discontinuances to discontinue service over a 13.26-mile rail line

beginning at milepost 3.07 (Station 165) and continuing to the Corpus

Christi Naval Air Station in Nueces County, TX.1

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\1\In a decision served November 19, 1993, the Commission

rejected Tex-Mex's original notice of exemption because no

environmental information was submitted. Subsequently, the City of

Corpus Christi filed supplemental environmental documents on behalf

of Tex-Mex that cured the defect in the notice.

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Tex-Mex 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; and (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 Commission or with any U.S. District Court or has been

decided in favor of the complainant within the 2-year period. On behalf

of Tex-Mex, the City of Corpus Christi has filed and certified that the

requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7 (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.8

(historic 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 use of this exemption, any employee affected by

the discontinuance 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. 10505(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 April 28, 1994, 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 April 8, 1994. Petitions to reopen or requests

for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April

18, 1994, with: Office of the Secretary, Case Control Branch, Intestate

Commerce Commission, Washington, DC 20423.

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\2\A stay will be issued routinely by the Commission in those

proceedings where an informed decision on environmental issues

(whether raised by a party or by the Commission's Section of

Environmental Analysis in its independent investigation) cannot be

made before the effective date of the notice of exemption. See

Exemption of Out-of-Service Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any

entity seeking a stay on environmental concerns is encouraged to

file its request as soon as possible in order to permit this

Commission to review and act on the request before the effective

date of this exemption.

\3\See Exempt. of Rail Abandonment--Offers of Finan. Assist., 4

I.C.C.2d 164 (1987).

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A copy of any pleading filed with the Commission should be sent to:

(1) petitioner's representatives, Charles H. White, Jr. or Cynthia C.

Crawford, Galland, Kharasch, Morse & Garfinkle, P.C., 1054 31st Street

NW., Washington, DC 20007; and (2) City of Corpus Christi, Juan Garza,

City Manager, P.O. Box 9277, Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277.

If the notice of exemption contains false or misleading

information, the exemption is void ab initio.

On behalf of Tex-Mex, the City of Corpus Christi has filed an

environmental report which addresses the discontinuance's effects, if

any, on the environmental and historic resources. The Section of

Environmental Analysis (SEA) will issue an environmental assessment

(EA) by April 8, 1994. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA

by writing to SEA (Room 3219, Interstate Commerce Commission,

Washington, DC 20423) or by calling Elaine Kaiser, Chief of SEA, at

(202) 927-6248. Comments on environmental and historic preservation

matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA is available to the

public.

Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail

banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent

decision.

Decided: March 24, 1994.

By the Commission, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of

Proceedings.

Sidney L. Strickland, Jr.,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 94-7378 Filed 3-28-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7035-01-P