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On Friday, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced its Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) issued an Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding Norfolk Southern Railway’s and Pan Am Railways Inc.’s (PAR) proposal to form and jointly control and own new railroad Pan Am Southern L.L.C.

The STB is soliciting public comments on the EA, which identifies and analyzes the transaction’s potential environmental impacts, and recommends mitigation measures. Comments must be filed with the STB by Dec. 15.

The board later will issue a final decision based on all comments received and the transaction’s entire environmental record, including the EA and a post EA.

In May, NS and PAR announced plans to form joint venture Pan Am Southern and establish the Patriot Corridor, a 155-mile high-speed freight-rail route between Mechanicville and Ayer, Mass. The corridor would include 281 miles of PAR's secondary and branch lines, including trackage rights, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

In July, the parties announced plans to build a $40 million intermodal and automotive rail logistics center on the site of a former rail yard in Saratoga County, N.Y., to anchor the corridor’s western end. Construction might begin in first-quarter 2009 and conclude in April 2010.