Notice2025-02790
OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund, Jaguar Transport Holdings, LLC, and Jaguar Rail Holdings, LLC-Continuance in Control Exemption-Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad, LLC
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 19, 2025
Issuing agencies
Surface Transportation Board
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 32 (Wednesday, February 19, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9943-9944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02790]
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. FD 36835]
OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund, Jaguar Transport Holdings, LLC,
and Jaguar Rail Holdings, LLC--Continuance in Control Exemption--Kansas
City West Bottoms Railroad, LLC
OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund (OPTrust), Jaguar Transport Holdings,
LLC (JTH), and Jaguar Rail Holdings, LLC (JRH, and collectively with
OPTrust and JTH, Jaguar), each a noncarrier, have filed a verified
notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(2) to continue in control of
Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad, LLC (KCWB), upon KCWB's becoming a
Class III rail carrier. The verified notice states that KCWB is a
directly controlled holding of JRH, which is directly controlled by
JTH, which is indirectly controlled by OPTrust. Jaguar collectively
controls ten Class III rail carriers.\1\
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\1\ Those carriers are, and the states in which they operate,
are: (1) Southwestern Railroad, Inc.--New Mexico, Texas, and
Oklahoma; (2) Texas & Eastern Railroad, LLC--Texas; (3) Wyoming and
Colorado Railroad, Inc. (which also does business under the name
Oregon Eastern Railroad)--Oregon; (4) Missouri Eastern Railroad,
LLC--Missouri; (5) Charlotte Western Railroad, LLC--North Carolina;
(6) Kinston Railroad, LLC--North Carolina; (7) Waterloo Railroad,
LLC--Iowa; (8) Cimarron Valley Railroad, L.C.--Kansas, Colorado, and
Oklahoma; (9) Washington Eastern Railroad, LLC--Washington; and (10)
West Memphis Base Railroad, L.L.C.--Arkansas.
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This transaction is related to a concurrently filed verified notice
of exemption in Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad, LLC--Operation
Exemption with Interchange Commitment--Union Pacific Railroad Company,
Docket No. FD 36834, in which KCWB seeks Board approval to lease and
operate approximately 1.25 miles of rail line owned by Union Pacific
Railroad Company (UP) in Kansas City, Jackson County, Mo., and Kansas
City, Wyandotte County, Kan., replacing the line's current operator,
UP.
Jaguar represents that its control of KCWB upon KCWB's becoming a
rail common carrier is not a transaction where: (1) KCWB would connect
with any railroads in Jaguar's corporate family; (2) Jaguar plans
through the continuance of control of KCWB (once KCWB becomes a common
carrier) to connect KCWB to any of the railroads in Jaguar's corporate
family, or to connect any of those railroads to one another; and (3) a
Class I carrier is involved. Therefore, the transaction is exempt from
the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323. See 49 CFR
1180.2(d)(2).
Under 49 U.S.C. 10502(g), the Board may not use its exemption
authority to relieve a rail carrier of its statutory obligation to
protect the interests of its employees. However, 49 U.S.C. 11326(c)
does not provide for labor protection for transactions under 49 U.S.C.
11324 and 11325 that involve only Class III rail carriers. Accordingly,
because this transaction involves Class III rail carriers only, the
Board may not impose labor protective conditions here.
The earliest this transaction may be consummated is March 5, 2025,
the effective date of the exemption. If the verified notice contains
false or misleading information, the exemption
[[Page 9944]]
is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C.
10502(g) may be filed at any time. The filing of a petition to revoke
will not automatically stay the effectiveness of the exemption.
Petitions for stay must be filed by February 26, 2025 (at least seven
days before the exemption becomes effective).
All pleadings, referring to Docket No. FD 36835, must be filed with
the Surface Transportation Board either via e-filing on the Board's
website or in writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC
20423-0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading must be served on
Jaguar's representative, Robert A. Wimbish, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29
North Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606-3208.
According to Jaguar, this action is excluded from environmental
review under 49 CFR 1105.6(c) and from historic preservation reporting
requirements under 49 CFR 1105.8(b).
Board decisions and notices are available at <a href="http://www.stb.gov">www.stb.gov</a>.
Decided: February 13, 2025.
By the Board, Mai T. Dinh, Director, Office of Proceedings.
Regena Smith-Bernard
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2025-02790 Filed 2-18-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P
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