Grimmer Boulevard in and near Fremont to loose common carrier status.

SERVICE DATE LATE RELEASE DECEMBER 16, 2005

EB

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

DECISION

STB Docket No. AB-980X

SANTA CLARA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY –ABANDONMENT EXEMPTION–
IN SANTA CLARA AND ALAMEDA COUNTIES, CA

Decided: December 16, 2005


By petition filed on August 29, 2005, Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority (SCVTA) seeks an
exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502 from the prior approval requirements of 49
U.S.C. 10903 to abandon
its residual common carrier obligation over a 1.19-mile line of railroad,
extending from milepost
16.30 to milepost 17.49 in San Jose, Santa Clara County, CA (Industrial line),
and a 2.77-mile line
of railroad, extending from milepost 2.61 near Paseo Padre Drive to milepost
5.38 near Grimmer
Boulevard in and near Fremont, Alameda County, CA (Milpitas line). Notice of the
filing was served
and published in the Federal Register on September 16, 2005 (70 FR 54803-04).
The petition for
exemption will be granted, subject to environmental, historic preservation, and
standard employee
protective conditions.


BACKGROUND

The Industrial line is located within central San Jose, and is surrounded by
streets, highways, mass
transportation services, utilities, and public parks. The Milpitas line passes
through the densely
populated San Francisco Bay area. Both lines were constructed in 1921 by the
Western Pacific
Railroad, a predecessor of Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP). In 2002, SCVTA
filed a notice of
exemption to acquire a UP line which encompasses the two lines at issue here.
As part of that
transaction, UP retained an exclusive permanent easement for purposes of
providing freight service.
See Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority –Acquisition Exemption– Union
Pacific Railroad
Company, STB Finance Docket No. 34292 (STB served Dec. 26, 2002).

UP has since discontinued service and abandoned its freight easements over these
lines pursuant to
the following exemptions: (1) over the Industrial line, in Union Pacific
Railroad Company
–Abandonment Exemption– in Santa Clara County, CA, STB Docket No. AB-33
(Sub-No. 221X) (STB served
Nov. 26, 2004); and (2) over the Milpitas Line, in Union Pacific Railroad
Company–Abandonment
Exemption–in Alameda County, CA, STB Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-No. 211X) (STB
served Nov. 12, 2003).

According to SCVTA, the only customer on the Industrial line is Smurfit Stone
Recycling Corporation
(Smurfit), a shipper of scrap or waste paper. Smurfit shipped 138 cars over the
line in 2002, 123
cars in 2003, and 26 cars in the first quarter of 2004. SCVTA states that
Smurfit would continue to
receive rail service by UP over a spur connecting SmurfitÂ’s facility to a
nearby UP line. SCVTA also
states that no traffic has moved over the Milpitas line for at least 5 years and
that any traffic in
the future could move over an adjacent parallel UP line. In addition, SCVTA
contends that there is
no likelihood of new rail business on either line. SCVTA plans to make portions
of these lines
available to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for the operation of a light rail
system.

[...]

Full Text of Decision at:
http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/51d7c65c6f78e79385256541007f058\
0/a526b82b73b19969852570d900678883?OpenDocument
or: http://tinyurl.com/966dr