Kansas Eastern Railroad, Inc.Abandonment Exemptionin Butler and Greenwood Counties, KS and South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, Inc.Discontinuance of Service Exemptionin Butler and Greenwood Counties, KS

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB-563 (Sub-No. 1X) and STB Docket No. AB-471 (Sub-No.

2X)]

Kansas Eastern Railroad, Inc.--Abandonment Exemption--in Butler

and Greenwood Counties, KS and South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad,

Inc.--Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in Butler and Greenwood

Counties, KS

Kansas Eastern Railroad, Inc. (KER) and South Kansas and Oklahoma

Railroad, Inc. (SKO) have filed a notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1152

Subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and Discontinuances for KER to abandon

and SKO to discontinue its trackage rights over a rail line between

milepost 438.5, at Severy, and milepost 483.0 near Augusta, in Butler

and Greenwood Counties, KS.1 The line traverses United

States Postal Service Zip Codes 67010, 67074, 67012, 67122 and 67137.

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\1\ KER acquired the involved rail line from Burlington Northern

Railroad Company as part of the transaction authorized in Kansas

Eastern Railroad, Inc.--Acquisition Exemption--Burlington Northern

Railroad Company, Finance Docket No. 33292 (ICC served Dec. 2,

1996).

SKO's trackage rights were the subject of an exemption in South

Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, Inc.--Trackage Rights Exemption--

Kansas Eastern Railroad, Inc., Finance Docket No. 33293 (ICC served

Dec. 2, 1996).

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KER and SKO have certified that: (1) no local traffic has moved

over the line for at least 2 years; (2) there has been no overhead

traffic on the line during the past two years; (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 2-year period; and (4) the requirements

at 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)(1) (notice to

governmental agencies) have been met.

As a condition to this exemption, any employee 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

24, 1999, 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 7, 1999. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use

conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by September 14, 1999,

with: Surface Transportation Board, Office of the Secretary, Case

Control Unit, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20423.

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\2\ The 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 in its independent investigation)

cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption

of Out-of-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.

\3\ Each offer of financial assistance must be accompanied by

the filing fee, which currently is set at $1000. See 49 CFR

1002.2(f)(25).

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A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to

applicants' representative: Karl Morell, Ball Janik LLP, 1455 F St.,

N.W., Suite 225, Washington, DC 20005. If the verified notice contains

false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio.

KER and SKO have filed an environmental report which addresses the

effects of the abandonment and discontinuance, if any, on the

environment and historic resources. The Section of Environmental

Analysis (SEA) will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by August

30, 1999. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to

SEA (Room 500, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423) or

by calling SEA, at (202) 565-1545. 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), KER 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 KER's filing of a notice of

consummation by August 25, 1999, 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 website at

``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.''

Decided: August 19, 1999.

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

Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 99-22075 Filed 8-24-99; 8:45 am]

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