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🚂Implications of Arkansas Louisiana Railroad Service Discontinuation

The Surface Transportation Board has approved the Arkansas Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad Co.'s request to discontinue rail service over a 9.32-mile line in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. The decision follows the lease expiration with Union Pacific Railroad and could affect local and overhead rail traffic. Protections for adversely affected employees have also been established.

🚂STB Notice on Release of Waybill Data and Objection Process

The Surface Transportation Board received a request for access to unmasked Carload Waybill Samples from 1984-2022. Stakeholders have 14 days to file objections regarding the release of this confidential railroad and shipper data. Interested parties can access more information on the Board's website under docket WB25-04.

🚆Notice on Proposed Amendments to Positive Train Control Plan

This document provides the public with notice that, on January 29, 2025, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain) submitted a request for amendment (RFA) to its FRA-approved Positive Train Control Safety Plan (PTCSP). As this RFA may involve a request for FRA's approval of proposed material modifications to an FRA- certified positive train control (PTC) system, FRA is publishing this notice and inviting public comment on the railroad's RFA to its PTCSP.

🌉Coast Guard Reinstates Drawbridge Operation Regulation in Florida

The Coast Guard is reinstating the temporarily modified operating schedule that governs the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad Bridge, across the Okeechobee Waterway (OWW), mile 7.41, at Stuart, FL. This action allows for continuity for drawbridge operations while the Coast Guard evaluates documentation received for a request to permanently change the operating regulation. This temporary interim rule will be in place until May 31, 2025.

🚆FRA Approves Test Program for Zero-Emission Rail Vehicles

FRA is issuing this notice to approve a petition from Georgia Central Railway, L.P. (GC) and Heart of Georgia Railroad, Inc. (HOG) (collectively, Petitioners), subsidiaries of Genesee and Wyoming (G&W), for a Test Program designed to test self-propelled, zero-emission, battery-electric rail vehicles and their associated computer and telemetry technology systems, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the system and new operational approaches to rail vehicle technology in the short-haul movement of containers. The approval grants limited, temporary suspension of certain FRA rules necessary to facilitate the conduct of the Test Program, including an exemption for certain safety appliance laws (collectively, Impacted FRA Safety Standards).

📜Notice on Waybill Data Release Request by Surface Transportation Board

🚂Analysis of Railroad Cost of Capital Regulations for 2024

The Board is instituting a proceeding to determine the railroad industry's cost of capital for 2024. The decision solicits comments on the following issues: the railroads' 2024 current cost of debt capital, the railroads' 2024 current cost of preferred equity capital (if any), the railroads' 2024 cost of common equity capital, and the 2024 capital structure mix of the railroad industry on a market value basis.