Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 109 Part 1.djvu/844

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109 STAT. 828 PUBLIC LAW 104-88 —DEC. 29, 1995 tracks. The Board does not have authority under this chapter over construction, acquisition, operation, abandonment, or discontinuance of spur, industrial, team, switching, or side tracks.

  • '§ 10907. Railroad development

"(a) In this section, the term 'financially responsible person' means a person who— "(1) is capable of paying the constitutional minimum value of the railroad line proposed to be acquired; and "(2) is able to assure that adequate transportation will be provided over such line for a period of not less than 3 years. Such term includes a governmental authority but does not include a Class I or Class II rail carrier. "(b)(1) When the Board finds that— "(A)(i) the public convenience and necessity require or permit the sale of a particular railroad line under this section; or "(ii) a railroad line is on a system diagram map as required under section 10903 of this title, but the rail carrier owning such line has not filed an application to abandon such line under section 10903 of this title before an application to purchase such line, or any required preliminary filing with respect to such application, is filed under this section; and "(B) an application to purchase such line has been filed by a financially responsible person, the Board shall require the rail carrier owning the railroad line to sell such line to such financially responsible person at a price not less than the constitutional minimum value. "(2) For purposes of this subsection, the constitutional minimum value of a particular railroad line shall be presumed to be not less than the net liquidation value of such line or the going concern value of such line, whichever is greater. "(c)(1) For purposes of this section, the Board may determine that the public convenience and necessity require or permit the sale of a railroad line if the Board determines, after a hearing on the record, that— "(A) the rail carrier operating such line refuses within a reasonable time to make the necessary efforts to provide adequate service to shippers who transport traffic over such line; "(B) the transportation over such line is inadequate for the majority of shippers who transport traffic over such line; "(C) the sale of such line will not have a significantly adverse financial effect on the rail carrier operating such line; "(D) the sale of such line will not have an adverse effect on the overall operational performance of the rail carrier operating such line; and "(E) the sale of such line will be likely to result in improved railroad transportation for shippers that transport traffic over such line. "(2) In a proceeding under this subsection, the burden of proving that the public convenience and necessity require or permit the sale of a particular railroad line is on the person filing the applica- Notification. tion to acquire such line. If the Board finds under this subsection Federal Register, that the public convenience and necessity require or permit the publication. g^j^ ^^ ^ particular railroad line, the Board shall concurrently