Notice2021-27161
CSX Corporation and CSX Transportation, Inc., et al.-Control and Merger-Pan Am Systems, Inc., Pan Am Railways, Inc., Boston and Maine Corporation, Maine Central Railroad Company, Northern Railroad, Pan Am Southern LLC, Portland Terminal Company, Springfield Terminal Railway Company, Stony Brook Railroad Company, and Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad Company
Primary source
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Published
December 15, 2021
Issuing agencies
Surface Transportation Board
Abstract
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) will hold a public hearing in this docket on January 13, 2022. The hearing will be entirely virtual and held online. If necessary, the hearing will continue on January 14, 2022. All interested persons are invited to appear. Additionally, the Board will set a limit of 20 pages on the filing of final briefs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 238 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71314-71316]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27161]
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. FD 36472 \1\]
CSX Corporation and CSX Transportation, Inc., et al.--Control and
Merger--Pan Am Systems, Inc., Pan Am Railways, Inc., Boston and Maine
Corporation, Maine Central Railroad Company, Northern Railroad, Pan Am
Southern LLC, Portland Terminal Company, Springfield Terminal Railway
Company, Stony Brook Railroad Company, and Vermont & Massachusetts
Railroad Company
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
ACTION: Notice of public hearing; page limit for final briefs.
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SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board (Board) will hold a public
hearing in this docket on January 13, 2022. The hearing will be
entirely virtual and held online. If necessary, the hearing will
continue on January 14, 2022. All interested persons are invited to
appear. Additionally, the Board will set a limit of 20 pages on the
filing of final briefs.
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\1\ This decision embraces the following dockets: Norfolk
Southern Railway--Trackage Rights Exemption--CSX Transportation,
Inc., Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 1); Norfolk Southern Railway--
Trackage Rights Exemption--Providence & Worcester Railroad, Docket
No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 2); Norfolk Southern Railway--Trackage Rights
Exemption--Boston & Maine Corp., Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 3);
Norfolk Southern Railway--Trackage Rights Exemption--Pan Am Southern
LLC, Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-No. 4); Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad--
Operation Exemption--Pan Am Southern LLC, Docket No. FD 36472 (Sub-
No. 5); SMS Rail Lines of New York, LLC--Discontinuance Exemption--
in Albany County, N.Y., Docket No. AB 1312X.
DATES: The hearing will be held on January 13, 2022, beginning at 9:30
a.m. Persons may participate online using video conferencing. The Board
will issue a subsequent decision with instructions for participation
and public observation of the hearing. The subsequent decision will
indicate whether the hearing will be conducted over one or two days and
include the schedule of appearances for speakers.
Any person wishing to speak at the hearing shall file with the
Board by December 20, 2021, a notice of intent to participate
(identifying the entity, if any, the person represents, the proposed
speaker, the amount of time requested, and summarizing the key points
that the speaker intends to address). The notices of intent to
participate are not required to be served on the parties of record;
they will be posted to the Board's website when they are filed.
ADDRESSES: All filings, referring to Docket No. FD 36472 et al., should
be filed with the Surface Transportation Board via e-filing on the
Board's website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Ziehm at (202) 245-0391.
Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal
Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a decision served on July 30, 2021 in
this docket (Decision No. 4), served and published in the Federal
Register (86 FR 41145) on July 30, 2021, the Board accepted for
consideration the revised application (Revised Application) filed by
CSX Corporation, CSX Transportation Inc., 747 Merger Sub 2, Inc., Pan
Am Systems, Inc., Pan Am Railways, Inc., Boston and Maine Corporation,
Pan Am Southern, LLC, Maine Central Railroad Company, Northern
Railroad, Portland Terminal Company, Springfield Terminal Railway
Company, Stony Brook Railroad Company, and Vermont & Massachusetts
Railroad Company (collectively, Applicants). The Revised Application
seeks Board approval under 49 U.S.C. 11321-26 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.
This proposal is referred to as the Merger Transaction. In addition to
the Merger Transaction, there are six related transactions (Related
Transactions) for which parties seek approval.
Numerous parties have filed replies or comments to the Revised
Application and Applicants' other filings,\2\ including: The U.S.
Department of Justice; the U.S. Department of Transportation; the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation and
[[Page 71315]]
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) (MassDOT/MBTA); the
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority; the State of Vermont (acting
through its Agency of Transportation (VTrans)); Vermont Rail System
(VRS); Canadian Pacific Railway; the National Railroad Passenger
Corporation (Amtrak); the Northern New England Passenger Rail
Authority; Republic Services, Inc., ECDC Environmental, L.C. and Devens
Recycling Center, LLC (collectively, Republic); the American Chemistry
Council; The Chlorine Institute; the New Hampshire Department of
Transportation; Housatonic Railroad Company, Inc.; Pioneer Valley
Railroad Company, Inc., U.S. Senator Susan Collins (Maine); New
Hampshire Governor Christopher T. Sununu; U.S. Representative Chris
Pappas (New Hampshire); U.S. Representatives Pappas and Ann McLane
Kuster (New Hampshire); U.S. Representative Richard Neal
(Massachusetts); various state senators and representatives; local
governmental officials; railroad unions; \3\ and local community
interests.\4\ Applicants have also submitted letters of support from
nearly 100 shippers; \5\ U.S. Senator Angus S. King, Jr. (Maine); Maine
Governor Janet Mills; additional state and local representatives; the
Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority; One SouthCoast Chamber;
and the Greater Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, among others.
In the replies, several parties have raised concerns about the impact
of the Merger and Related Transactions on competition and passenger
service. CSX, NSR, and B&E filed separate rebuttals, in which they
dispute these assertions.
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\2\ Applicants submitted their original application on February
25, 2021, requesting that the Board treat the transaction as a
``minor'' transaction, but the Board found the proposed transaction
should be classified as a ``significant'' transaction. The Board
therefore considered the February 25, 2021 submission a prefiling
notification, as required in ``significant'' transactions. See
Decision No. 1. On April 26, 2021, Applicants submitted an
application for a ``significant'' transaction, but by decision
served May 26, 2021, the Board rejected the application because it
failed to include all required information. See Decision No. 3.
Several parties submitted filings in response to the two original
applications but not the Revised Application. To the extent that
these filings address the merits of the proposed Merger and Related
Transactions, the Board will consider the filings as part of its
final decision on the merits.
\3\ The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division/
IBT, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of
Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical
Division, and National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, 32BJ/SEIU
(filing jointly as Allied Rail Unions); American Train Dispatchers
Association; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
National Division and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and
Trainmen General Committee of Adjustment 120; International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO; International Federation
of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 202; and the
Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and
Transportation Workers.
\4\ Village of Voorheesville, N.Y.; the Altamont Free Library;
the neighborhood of Islington Creek, N.H.; and Friends of the
Souhegan Valley Rail Trail.
\5\ See Revised Appl., Ex. 23.
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Section 11324(a) requires the Board to ``hold a public hearing
unless the Board determines that a public hearing is not necessary in
the public interest.'' In Decision No. 4, the Board stated that it
would decide whether to conduct a public hearing in a later decision,
after the record had been more fully developed. Decision No. 4, slip
op. at 30 n.43. Based on the comments that have been submitted, the
Board finds that a public hearing, which will provide Board Members an
opportunity to directly question the Applicants and the other
interested persons about the issues that have been raised, is in the
public interest.
In Decision No. 4, the Board stated that, if it were to hold a
public hearing, it would be scheduled between the filing of rebuttals
and final briefs. Decision No. 4, slip op. at 2. Under the procedural
schedule, rebuttals in support of the Revised Application and Related
Transactions were due on October 18, 2021,\6\ and final briefs are due
by January 3, 2022. However, the Board finds that it would be more
beneficial to hold the public hearing after the final briefs are
submitted. Accordingly, the hearing will be held on January 13, 2022,
and will continue on January 14, 2022, if necessary. As such, the Board
expects that January 13, 2022, or January 14, 2022, will be considered
the close of the record (depending on whether the hearing is one or two
days long). In accordance with 49 CFR 1180.4(e)(3), the Board's
decision would be issued no later than 90 days after the close of the
record. The Board recognizes that the date of the hearing will extend
the procedural schedule, including the effective date for a final Board
decision, by 10 or 11 days (depending on whether the hearing lasts one
or two days). However, even with this extension, Applicants would still
have a reasonable amount of time to complete the transaction in
accordance with their own schedule if approval is granted.
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\6\ Rebuttals in support of responsive (including inconsistent)
applications were due on November 17, 2021, but no responsive
applications were filed.
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The Board will issue, prior to the hearing date, a decision setting
a schedule of appearances for speakers, with specific allotments of
time for presentations. Such allotments may be limited, and persons
wishing to speak at the hearing should be prepared to keep their
comments as succinct as possible, to ensure an opportunity for all
interested persons to be heard. The schedule will also provide, among
other things, that Applicants will speak first, and that they may
reserve part of their time for a closing statement after all other
persons have spoken, if they so choose.
Persons speaking at the hearing are encouraged to use their time to
call attention to the points they believe to be particularly important.
The purpose of the hearing is not to restate the written comments
previously submitted, but to summarize and emphasize the key points of
a party's case or the speaker's positions, and to provide an
opportunity for questions that the Board may have regarding the matters
at issue in this proceeding.
Lastly, the Board will set the limit for final briefs at 20
pages.\7\ The Board notes that, like the hearing testimony, final
briefs are not intended to serve as an opportunity for parties to raise
new evidence or arguments, but to provide a concise summary of the
parties' positions. The Board has determined that 20 pages is a
sufficient length for this purpose.
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\7\ The Board stated in Decision No. 4 that it would determine
the page limits for final briefs in a later decision, after the
record had been more fully developed.
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Board Releases and Transcript Availability: Decisions and notices
of the Board, including this notice, are available on the Board's
website at <a href="http://www.stb.gov">www.stb.gov</a>. The Board will issue a separate notice
containing the schedule of appearances, as well as instructions for
participating in and observing the hearing. A recording of the hearing
and a transcript will be posted on the Board's website when they become
available.
It is ordered:
1. A public hearing will be held online using video conferencing on
January 13, 2022. The hearing will resume on January 14, 2022, if
necessary.
2. By December 20, 2021, any person wishing to speak at the hearing
shall file with the Board a notice of intent to participate identifying
the entity, if any, the person represents, the proposed speaker, the
amount of time requested, and summarizing the key points that the
speaker intends to address.
3. Notices of intent to participate will be posted to the Board's
website and need not be served on parties of record, any hearing
participants, or other commenters.
4. Final briefs are limited to no more than 20 pages.
5. The procedural schedule is revised as follows:
Service date of final decision: No later than April 13 or 14, 2022.
Effective date of final decision: No later than May 13 or 14, 2022.
6. This decision is effective on its service date.
7. This decision will be published in the Federal Register.
Decided: December 10, 2021.
[[Page 71316]]
By the Board, Board Members Begeman, Fuchs, Oberman, Primus, and
Schultz.
Brendetta Jones,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2021-27161 Filed 12-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 15, 2021.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.