STB Chair Fuchs provides update on pending procedures

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs yesterday provided an update on recent board actions that clear the way or resolve several outstanding proceedings.

They include the following:

• Lake Providence Port Commission's efforts to acquire parts of the McGehee-Tallulah rail corridor owned by Delta Southern Railroad Inc., a short line, through a board-ordered sale. The proceeding was placed in abeyance in August 2024, pending resolution of certain issues raised in related state court actions. Fuchs has offered a draft action and expects the STB to issue a decision later this month.

• Philadelphia's petition for a declaratory order addressing jurisdiction over certain property underlying a portion of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co.’s former Ninth Street Branch. Chairman Fuchs has offered a draft action for consideration by the full Board and expects it to issue a decision sometime this month.

• Mendocino Railway's petition asking the board to confirm the railroad's status as a short line. Fuchs anticipates the board will act sometime this month on his draft action addressing the matter.

• Fortress Investment Group Ltd.'s petition regarding its proposed acquisition of control of the Wheeling Corp. and its wholly owned railroad subsidiaries. Fuchs expects the board to issue a decision no later than November.

Links to those and other recent actions on outstanding proceedings can be found here.