U.S. grain companies balk at petition for short-line abandonment

U.S. grain companies balk at petition for short-line abandonment A large group of U.S. grain companies protested a petition filed to the Surface Transportation Board that would allow short-line and regional railroads to abandon lines by simple notification to the federal agency.
   The Washington-based National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) called the proposal “unwarranted” and said it failed to meet the legal threshold for rail-line abandonment under the 1980 Staggers Act.
   According to the petition, abandonment notices to the STB would consist of commercial and engineering details about why the line would be dropped. The notices would also be published in local newspapers, trade publications, and Federal Register.
   The NGFA said the petition’s reference to short-line and regional railroads abandoning lines before they fall into disrepair is a “faulty proposition,” because potential buyers would be unattracted to unprofitable lines.
   “There is nothing to stop the owner of any small rail line from seeking out a willing buyer at any time (including prior to abandonment), and a class abandonment exemption, accordingly, is unnecessary to further line sales by small carriers,” the NGFA said.
   The NGFA also said unexpected short-line and regional rail abandonments affect service down the line to even connections with the large Class I railroads. “If one were to adopt the (small railroad) view … the nation’s entire rail network would be exempt from abandonment regulation so long as the abandonments take place inch-by-inch or mile-by-mile,” the association said.
   The NGFA also opposed a proposal by the Association of American Railroads that urged the STB to broaden the proposed class exemption to include potentially thousands of miles of track leased to small carriers by the Class I railroads. Under this proposal, the large railroads would be allowed to use the same class exemption to abandon trackage leased to small carriers if the latter invoked a class exemption to discontinue service on the same leased line.
   The NGFA said the Class I railroads continue to have a “residual” common-carrier obligation to continue service over tracks leased to small carriers if the short-line or regional railroad stops service.
   The NGFA suggested several alternatives to the abandonment process, such as the STB could reduce to one year the current requirement that a rail line not have traffic for two consecutive years before filing an abandonment application, and allow the application to proceed if objections aren’t raised within 30 days.
   If the STB approves the short-line and regional railroad line abandonment petition, the NGFA urged the agency to impose several conditions:
   * Because shippers and receivers on the line no longer would be eligible to file objections or oppose an abandonment, the notice period before the abandonment process begins should be extended to 90 to 120 days.
   * Small carriers should not be able to use the abandonment class exemption privilege for five years after acquiring a line from a Class I railroad. That would be three years longer than proposed by the short-line and regional carriers.
   The NGFA comprises 900 grain, feed, processing, exporting and other grain-related companies that operate about 6,000 facilities, handling more than 70 percent of the country’s grains and oilseeds.