42753                            SERVICE DATE – NOVEMBER 9, 2012

DO

FR-4915-01-P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[Docket No. FD 35687]

Soo Line Railroad Company—Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption—BNSF Railway Company

            BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement (Agreement), has agreed to grant temporary overhead trackage rights to Soo Line Railroad Company d/b/a Canadian Pacific (Soo Line) over BNSF’s line of railroad between Ardoch, N.D., and Erskine, Minn., a distance of approximately 84.6 miles.  

            The transaction may be consummated on or after November 24, 2012, the effective date of the exemption (30 days after the verified notice of exemption was filed).  The temporary trackage rights are scheduled to expire on or about December 24, 2012.  The purpose of the temporary trackage rights is to permit Soo Line to bridge its train service while its main lines are out of service due to certain programmed track, roadbed, and structural maintenance.

            As a condition to this exemption, any employees affected by the acquisition of the temporary trackage rights will be protected by the conditions imposed in Norfolk & Western Railway—Trackage Rights—Burlington Northern, Inc., 354 I.C.C. 605 (1978), as modified in Mendocino Coast Railway—Lease & Operate—California Western Railroad, 360 I.C.C. 653 (1980), and any employees affected by the discontinuance of those trackage rights will be protected by the conditions set out in Oregon Short Line Railroad & The Union Pacific Railroad—Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).

            This notice is filed under 49 C.F.R. § 1180.2(d)(8).  If it contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio.  Petitions to revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 10502(d) may be filed at any time.  The filing of a petition to revoke will not automatically stay the transaction.  Petitions for stay must be filed no later than November 16, 2012 (at least 7 days before the exemption becomes effective). 

            An original and 10 copies of all pleadings, referring to Docket No. FD 35687, must be filed with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, S.W., Washington, DC  20423-0001.  In addition, a copy of each pleading must be served on W. Karl Hansen, Leonard, Street and Deinard, 150 South Fifth Street, Suite 2300, Minneapolis, MN  55402.

            Board decisions and notices are available on our website at “WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.”

            Decided:  November 1, 2012.

            By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, Director, Office of Proceedings.