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ff ~Ie>~ 30179 DO SERVICE DATE - APRlL 21,1999 SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD DECISION STB Docket No. AB-6 (Sub-No. 381X) THE BURLINGTON NORTHERN AND SANTA FE RAIL WAY COMPANY-- ABANDONMENT EXEMPTION--IN HENNEPIN AND RAMSEY COUNTIES, MN Decided: April 19, 1999 The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) filed a notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to abandon 2.43 miles of rail line between milepost 0.00 near East Minneapolis and milepost 2.43 near Rollins Oil, in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, MN. Notice of the exemption was served and published in the Federal Register on November 30, 1998 (63 FR 65865-66). By decision served on December 29, 1998, a 180-day public use condition was imposed under 49 U.S.C. 10905 for the 2.43-mile line at the request of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDot). The condition required that BNSF keep the right-of-way intact, including bridges, trestles, culverts and tunnels, for a period of 180 days after the effective date of the exemption to permit MnDot and any other state or local government agency or other interested person to negotiate for acquisition of the line for public use. The public use condition is scheduled to expire on June 28, 1999.1 On March 2, 1999, BNSF requested that the Board partially vacate the public use condition for the line segment between milepost 2.18 and milepost 2.43. BNSF states that, in order to facilitate the location of a new rail shipper facility (Triangle Warehouse) and rail spur within the abandonment/discontinuance area, it has been negotiating a sale of a section of property included within the abandonment/discontinuance limits. According to BNSF, the closing of the sale transaction is pending. Alternatively, BNSF seeks Board approval for the sale notwithstanding the public use condition or a Board clarification that the sale would be consistent with the public use condition (under the theory that, while the property would become private spur track, the property would be sold for continued rail purposes). BNSF also states that it has been negotiating the transfer of another section of property along the right-of-way to Diversified Graphics for private use and, accordingly, requests that a portion of the right-of-way between milepost 0.00 and Broadway Street NE be released from the I The December 29, 1999 decision also imposed an environmental condition that required BNSF, prior to engaging in any salvage activities, to consult with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to address possible impacts resulting from salvage operations. . O\.~ ~~\