# Railroad Consolidation Procedures—Exemption for Temporary Trackage Rights
**AGENCY:**
Surface Transportation Board, DoT.
**ACTION:**
Notice; amendment of final decision.
**SUMMARY:**
By decision served on May 23, 2003, the Board amended its rules at 49 CFR part 1180 to adopt a new class exemption for trackage rights proposals that are limited to overhead operations and which expire on a date certain, not to exceed 1 year from the effective date of the exemption. The final rule was published in the *Federal Register* on May 23, 2003, 68 FR 28139-40. In the final decision, the Board stated that approval of temporary trackage rights agreements under 49 U.S.C. 11323 must include the employee protective conditions set forth in *Norfolk and Western Ry. Co.—Trackage Rights—BN,* 354 I.C.C. 605 (1978), as modified by *Mendocino Coast Ry., Inc.—Lease and Operate,* 360 I.C.C. 653 (1980), *aff'd sub nom. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n* v. *United States,* 675 F.2d 1248 (D.C. Cir. 1982) ( *Norfolk and Western* conditions). In accordance with a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in *United Transportation Union—General Committee of Adjustment (GO-386)* v. *Surface Transportation Board,* 363 F.3d 465 (D.C. Cir. 2004), the Board now amends its final decision to require not only the imposition of the *Norfolk and Western* conditions on the acquisition of temporary trackage rights under the new rule, but also the imposition of the employee protective conditions set forth in *Oregon Short Line R.R. Co.—Abandonment—Goshen,* 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979), for the discontinuance component of temporary trackage rights authority. The decision will be included in the bound volumes of the STB printed reports at a later date.
**DATES:**
Petitions to reopen must be filed by June 7, 2004.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Joseph H. Dettmar, (202) 565-1600. [Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.]
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
Additional information is contained in the Board's decision. To purchase a copy of the full decision, write to, call, or pick up in person from: ASAP Document Solutions, 9332 Annapolis Road, Suite 103, Lanham, MD 20706. Telephone: (301) 577-2600. [FIRS for the hearing impaired: 1-800-877-8339.]
Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at *http://www.stb.dot.gov.*
By the Board, Chairman Nober.
Decided: May 10, 2004.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.