§1180.4. Procedures. — Inbound Citations

(a) The regulations in this subpart set out the information to be filed and the procedures to be followed in control, merger, acquisition, lease, trackage rights, and any other consolidation transaction involving more than one railroad that is initiated under 49 U.S.C. 11323. Section 1180.2 separates these transactions into four types: Major, significant, minor, and exempt. The informational requirements for these types of transactions differ. Before an application is filed, the designation of type of transaction may be clarified or certain of the information required may be waived upon petition to the Board. This procedure is explained in § 1180.4. The required contents of an application are set out in §§ 1180.6 (general information supporting the transaction), 1180.7 (competitive and market information), 1180.8 (operational information), 1180.9 (financial data), 1180.10 (service assurance plans), and 1180.11 (transnational and other informational requirements). A major application must contain the information required in §§ 1180.6(a), 1180.6(b), 1180.7(a), 1180.7(b), 1180.8(a), 1180.8(b), 1180.9, 1180.10, and 1180.11. A significant application must contain the information required in §§ 1180.6(a), 1180.6(c), 1180.7(a), 1180.7(c), and 1180.8(b). A minor application must contain the information required in §§ 1180.6(a) and 1180.8(c). Procedures (including time limits, filing requirements, participation requirements, and other matters) are contained in § 1180.4. All applications must comply with the Board's Rules of General Applicability, 49 CFR parts 1100 through 1129, unless otherwise specified. These regulations may be cited as the Railroad Consolidation Procedures.

(b) We will waive application of the regulations contained in this subpart for a consolidation involving The Kansas City Southern Railway Company and another Class I railroad and instead will apply the regulations in this subpart A in effect before July 11, 2001 and contained in the 49 CFR, Parts 1000 to 1199, edition revised as of October 1, 2000, unless we are shown why such a waiver should not be allowed. Interested parties must file any objections to this waiver within 10 days after the applicants' prefiling notification (see 49 CFR § 1180.4(b)(1)).

(vii) The application shall contain a certificate of service indicating that all persons designated in § 1180.4(c)(5) have been served with a copy of the application.

(d) A transaction is exempt if it is within one of the nine categories described in paragraphs (d)(1) through (9) of this section. The Board has found that its prior review and approval of these transactions is not necessary to carry out the rail transportation policy of 49 U.S.C. 10101; and is of limited scope or unnecessary to protect shippers from market abuse. See 49 U.S.C. 10502. A notice must be filed to use one of these class exemptions. The procedures are set out in § 1180.4(g). These class exemptions do not relieve a carrier of its statutory obligation to protect the interests of employees. See 49 U.S.C. 10502(g) and 11326. The enumeration of the following categories of transactions as exempt does not preclude a carrier from seeking an exemption of specific transactions not falling into these categories.

(1) Acquisition of a line of railroad which would not constitute a major market extension where the Board has found that the public convenience and necessity permit abandonment.

(2) Acquisition or continuance in control of a nonconnecting carrier or one of its lines where (i) the railroads would not connect with each other or any railroads in their corporate family, (ii) the acquisition or continuance in control is not part of a series of anticipated transactions that would connect the railroads with each other or any railroad in their corporate family, and (iii) the transaction does not involve a class I carrier.

(3) Transactions within a corporate family that do not result in adverse changes in service levels, significant operational changes, or a change in the competitive balance with carriers outside the corporate family.

(4) Renewal of leases and any other matters where the Board has previously authorized the transaction, and only an extension in time is involved.

(5) Joint projects involving the relocation of a line of railroad which does not disrupt service to shippers.

(7) Acquisition of trackage rights and renewal of trackage rights by a rail carrier over lines owned or operated by any other rail carrier or carriers that are: (i) based on written agreements, and (ii) not filed or sought in responsive applications in rail consolidation proceedings.

(8) Acquisition of temporary trackage rights by a rail carrier over lines owned or operated by any other rail carrier or carriers that are: {i} based on written agreements, {ii} not filed or sought in responsive applications in rail consolidation proceedings, {iii} for overhead operations only, and {iv} scheduled to expire on a specific date not to exceed 1 year from the effective date of the exemption. If the operations contemplated by the exemption will not be concluded within the 1-year period, the parties may, prior to expiration of the period, file a request for a renewal of the temporary rights for an additional period of up to 1 year, including the reason(s) therefor. Rail carriers acquiring temporary trackage rights need not seek authority from the Board to discontinue the trackage rights as of the expiration date specified under 49 CFR 1180.4(g)(1)(ii). All transactions under this paragraph (d)(8) will be subject to applicable statutory labor protective conditions.

(9) Acquisition of emergency temporary trackage rights by a rail carrier over lines owned or operated by any other rail carrier or carriers that are: {i} Based on written agreements, {ii} not filed or sought in responsive applications in rail consolidation proceedings, {iii} for overhead operations only, {iv} scheduled to expire on a specific date not to exceed three months from the effective date of the exemption, and {v} sought in response to an unforeseen track outage and expected to last more than seven days where there is no reasonable alternative to maintain pre-outage levels of service. If during the exemption period, the outage is resolved and use of the temporary emergency trackage rights ceases to be necessary to maintain service at pre-outage levels, the rail carrier must file a notice stating that the outage has been resolved and that use of the trackage rights has ceased and identifying the date on which use of the trackage rights ceased. Such a notice should be filed within 5 business days of the date on which use of the trackage rights ceased. The emergency temporary trackage rights authority expires upon the official filing date of the notice. If the operations contemplated by the exemption will not be concluded within the initial exemption period, the rail carrier may, prior to expiration of the period, file a request for a renewal of the temporary rights for an additional period of up to 3 months, including the reason(s) therefor. Rail carriers acquiring temporary trackage rights need not seek authority from the Board to discontinue the trackage rights as of the expiration date specified under § 1180.4(g)(1)(ii). All transactions under this paragraph (d)(9) will be subject to applicable statutory labor protective conditions.

(8) Acquisition of temporary trackage rights by a rail carrier over lines owned or operated by any other rail carrier or carriers that are: {i} based on written agreements, {ii} not filed or sought in responsive applications in rail consolidation proceedings, {iii} for overhead operations only, and {iv} scheduled to expire on a specific date not to exceed 1 year from the effective date of the exemption. If the operations contemplated by the exemption will not be concluded within the 1-year period, the parties may, prior to expiration of the period, file a request for a renewal of the temporary rights for an additional period of up to 1 year, including the reason(s) therefor. Rail carriers acquiring temporary trackage rights need not seek authority from the Board to discontinue the trackage rights as of the expiration date specified under 49 CFR 1180.4(g)(1)(ii). All transactions under this paragraph (d)(8) will be subject to applicable statutory labor protective conditions.

(ii) To obtain information about an interchange commitment for use in a proceeding before the Board, a shipper or other affected party may be granted access to the confidential documents filed pursuant to § 1180.4(g)(4)(i) of this section by filing, and serving upon the petitioner, a “Motion for Access to Confidential Documents,” containing:

(A) An explanation of the party's need for the information; and

(B) An appropriate draft protective order and confidentiality undertaking(s) that will ensure that the documents are kept confidential.