Surface Transportation Board – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) is accepting for consideration the revised application filed on July 1, 2021, by CSX Corporation (CSXC), CSX Transportation Inc. (CSXT), 747 Merger Sub 2, Inc. (747 Merger Sub 2), Pan Am Systems, Inc. (Systems), Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR), Boston and Maine Corporation (Boston & Maine), Maine Central Railroad Company (Maine Central), Northern Railroad (Northern), Portland Terminal Company (Portland Terminal), Springfield Terminal Railway Company (Springfield Terminal), Stony Brook Railroad Company (Stony Brook), and Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad Company (V&M) (collectively, Applicants). The application will be referred to as the Revised Application. The Revised Application seeks Board approval under 49 U.S.C. 11321-26 for: CSXC, CSXT, and 747 Merger Sub 2 to control the seven railroads controlled by Systems and PAR, and CSXT to merge six of the seven railroads into CSXT. This proposal is referred to as the Merger Transaction. In addition to the Revised Application, there are several filings for transactions related to the Merger Transaction, including: Four notices of exemption for Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) to acquire trackage rights over existing lines owned by four separate railroads; a petition for exemption to allow Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad, LLC d/ b/a Berkshire & Eastern Railroad (B&E), to replace Springfield Terminal as the operator of Pan Am Southern LLC (PAS); and a notice of exemption to allow SMS Rail Lines of New York, LLC (SMS) to discontinue service and terminate its lease of a rail line known as the Voorheesville Running Track. These transactions will be referred to as the Related Transactions. This decision embraces the following dockets: Norfolk Southern RailwayTrackage Rights ExemptionCSX Transportation, Inc., Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 1); Norfolk Southern RailwayTrackage Rights ExemptionProvidence & Worcester Railroad, Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 2); Norfolk Southern RailwayTrackage Rights Exemption Boston & Maine Corp., Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 3); Norfolk Southern RailwayTrackage Rights ExemptionPan Am Southern LLC, Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 4); Pittsburg & Shawmut RailroadOperation Exemption Pan Am Southern LLC, Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 5); SMS Rail Lines of New York, LLCDiscontinuance Exemptionin Albany County, N.Y., Docket No. AB 1312X. The Board finds that the Revised Application meets the requirements of 49 CFR 1180.4, 1180.6, and 1180.7 and is therefore complete. 49 CFR 1180.4(c)(7) (``A complete application contains all information for all applicant carriers required by these procedures, except as modified by advance waiver.'') Accordingly, the Revised Application is accepted. The Board adopts a procedural schedule for consideration of the Revised Application and Related Transactions, under which the Board's final decision would be issued by April 1, 2022, and would become effective by May 1, 2022.

The Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board is publishing the Regulatory Flexibility Agenda for spring 2021.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (Board) gives notice of its intent to request from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval without change of the six existing collections described below.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives notice that it is requesting from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a reinstatement without change of Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery. This collection was developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback from the public on the Board's service delivery.

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) grants a petition filed by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a new class exemption for emergency temporary trackage rights. The Board also proposes certain other related changes to the class exemptions for trackage rights and temporary trackage rights.

EQT Infrastructure V Collect EUR SCSp and EQT Infrastructure V Collect USD SCSp, each a noncarrier acting by its manager EQT Fund Management S.[agrave] r.l. (jointly, Applicants or EQT), have filed an application to acquire control of First Student, Inc., First Transit, Inc., First Mile Square, LLC, First Canada ULC, and Transit Management of Dutchess County, Inc. (collectively, Target Carriers), which each hold interstate carrier operating authority in the United States, from FirstGroup plc (FirstGroup) and its subsidiary FirstBus Investments Ltd. (FirstBus), through a stock purchase agreement. The Board is tentatively approving and authorizing the transaction, and, if no opposing comments are timely filed, this notice will be the final Board action.

Canadian National Railway Company (CNR), Grand Trunk Corporation (GTC), and their rail operating subsidiaries (collectively with CNR and GTC, CN or Applicants) have notified the Surface Transportation Board (Board) of their intent to file an application seeking authority for the acquisition of control by CNR, through its wholly owned subsidiary Brooklyn Merger Sub, Inc. (Brooklyn Merger Sub), of Kansas City Southern, and through it, of The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCSR), Gateway Eastern Railway Company, and The Texas Mexican Railway Company (collectively, KCS), in the event that Kansas City Southern accepts an acquisition proposal that CN conveyed to Kansas City Southern's Board of Directors on April 20, 2021 (CN Proposal). Applicants have indicated that 2019 will be the base year for their impact analysis and that they anticipate filing their application on approximately August 20, 2021.

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) invites public comments on a proposed procedural schedule for this proceeding. On February 25, 2021, CSX Corporation (CSXC), CSX Transportation Inc. (CSXT), 747 Merger Sub 2, Inc. (747 Merger Sub 2), Pan Am Systems, Inc. (Systems), Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR), Boston and Maine Corporation (Boston & Maine), Maine Central Railroad Company (Maine Central), Northern Railroad (Northern), Portland Terminal Company (Portland Terminal), Springfield Terminal Railway Company (Springfield Terminal), Stony Brook Railroad Company (Stony Brook), and Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad Company (V&M) (collectively, Applicants) submitted a filing with the Board. The applicants are seeking approval for: (1) CSXC, CSXT, and 747 Merger Sub 2 to control the seven railroads controlled by Systems and PAR, and (2) CSXT to merge six of the seven railroads into CSXT. In Decision No. 1, served and published on March 25, 2021, the Board accepted the February 25 submission as a prefiling notification, thus allowing Applicants to supplement their submission with the requisite information for a ``significant'' transaction in accordance with the Board's regulations, between April 25 and June 25, 2021 (i.e., two to four months after the prefiling notice was submitted).

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (Canadian Pacific), Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPRC), and their U.S. rail carrier subsidiaries, Soo Line Railroad Company (Soo Line), Central Maine & Quebec Railway US Inc., Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation, and Delaware & Hudson Railway Company, Inc. (collectively, CP) and Kansas City Southern and its U.S. rail carrier subsidiaries, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCSR), Gateway Eastern Railway Company, and The Texas Mexican Railway Company (collectively, KCS) (CP and KCS collectively, Applicants) have notified the Surface Transportation Board (Board) of their intent to file an application seeking authority for the acquisition of control by Canadian Pacific, through its indirect, wholly owned subsidiary Cygnus Merger Sub 2 Corporation (Cygnus Merger Sub 2 Corp.), of Kansas City Southern, and through it, of KCSR and its railroad affiliates, and for the resulting common control by Canadian Pacific of its U.S. railroad subsidiaries, and KCSR and its railroad affiliates. Applicants have indicated that 2019 will be the base year for their impact analysis and that they anticipate filing their application on or shortly after June 28, 2021.