FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
05/06/98 (Wednesday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 98-29	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD DENIES CENTRAL RAILROAD CO. OF INDIANA ABANDONMENT OF ITS "SHELBYVILLE" LINE

Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today that the Board has denied a petition by the Central Railroad Company of Indiana (CIND) for an exemption from Board regulation to allow CIND to abandon its 58-mile “Shelbyville” rail line between Greendale and Shelbyville, Indiana. The Board denied the petition in a decision issued to the public on May 4, 1998.

CIND had petitioned the Board for permission to abandon the line through the use of exemption procedures, rather than the filing of a “full” abandonment application. However, extensive pleadings filed with the Board in opposition to the abandonment petition raised serious questions about CIND’s petition. In particular, the Board found unresolved questions regarding CIND’s revenues, operating expenses, and maintenance costs attributable to the operation of the line. For this reason, the Board denied CIND’s exemption request without prejudice toward CIND’s filing of a full abandonment application.

The Board’s issued its decision on May 4 in the case entitled Central Railroad Company of Indiana--Abandonment Exemption--in Dearborn, Decatur, Franklin Ripley, and Shelby Counties, IN, STB Docket No. AB-459 (Sub-No. 2X).

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