FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
02/23/2004 (Monday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 04-5
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov


Public & Media Advisory: Surface Transportation Board Announces Public Hearing in "Canadian National-Great Lakes Transportation" Railroad-Acquisition Case


Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober today announced that the agency will hold a public hearing beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 3, 2004, in the STB's Hearing Room on the 7th Floor of the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., concerning the railroad control case entitled Canadian National Railway Company and Grand Trunk Corporation--Control--Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company, and the Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company, STB Finance Docket No. 34424.



In its February 12, 2004 decision, the STB outlined the procedures for participating in the March 3 hearing. Any party who wishes to participate should review that decision, which is available for viewing and downloading via the agency's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov. A printed copy of the agency's decision also is available for a fee by contacting ASAP Document Solutions, 9332 Annapolis Rd., Suite 103, Lanham, MD 20706, telephone (301) 577-2600, or via asapmd@verizon.net. A fact sheet summarizing the case is attached.



Forthcoming official public notices and STB news releases advising of procedures for official participation, a hearing agenda, attendance instructions, and other related matters will be available on the agency's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov.



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ATTACHMENT
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ATTACHMENT

FACT SHEET

Canadian National Railway Company and Grand Trunk Corporation--Control--Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company, and the Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company, STB Finance Docket No. 34424

On November 5, 2003, the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), a railroad controlling several railroad subsidiaries, and the Grand Trunk Corporation (GTC), a non-railroad holding company through which CN controls its railroad subsidiaries in the United States, applied for STB approval to control three additional U.S. railroads: the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company (DMIR), the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company (B&LE), and The Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company (P&C Dock). Because CN and GTC are referred to collectively as CN, and because DMIR, B&LE, and P&C Dock are now controlled by Great Lakes Transportation LLC (GLT), the application is referred to as the "CN-GLT Application."

In its "Decision No. 2" in this case, issued on December 1, 2003, the STB accepted the CN-GLT Application for consideration and set a procedural schedule for its processing. That schedule provides, among other things, that the STB's final decision on the CN-GLT Application will be issued to the public on April 9, 2004, if no unanticipated environmental review is required.

In Decision No. 2, the STB said that a public hearing and/or oral argument would be held during the week of March 1, 2004. In its "Decision No. 12" in this case, issued on February 12, 2004, the agency scheduled oral argument for March 3, 2004.

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