FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
03/01/99 (Monday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 99-10	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD REQUIRES MEDIA SEATING RESERVATIONS FOR "DIRECT" OBSERVATION OF MARCH 18 ORAL ARGUMENT, MARCH 25 VOTING CONFERENCE RE PROPOSED "CANADIAN NATIONAL-ILLINOIS CENTRAL" RAILROAD MERGER

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) today advised interested members of the media that requests for reserved seating for the Board's March 18, 1999, oral argument session and its March 25, 1999, open voting conference in the case [FOOTNOTE 1: Canadian National Railway Company, Grand Trunk Corporation, and Grand Trunk Western Railroad Incorporated--Control--Illinois Central Corporation, Illinois Central Railroad Company, Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad Company, and Cedar River Railroad Company, STB Finance Docket No. 33556.] concerning the proposed "Canadian National-Illinois Central" railroad merger must be received, by fax only, on or before the close of business (COB) on Tuesday, March 9, 1999.

Both the Thursday, March 18 oral argument session and the Thursday, March 25 voting conference will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Board's Hearing Room, Room 760, on the 7th Floor of its offices in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., in Washington, DC. While the oral argument session and voting conference are open to the public, there will be no public participation.

Because of the interest in the proposed merger, limited seating is available to the media in the Hearing Room. As only 15 seats will be reserved in the Hearing Room for members of the media to observe the oral argument and the vote directly, the Board is requiring that those wanting a seat must submit their requests, by fax only, to the Board by COB March 9, 1999, supplying the following information:

1. Name of seating requestor.
2. Organization requestor represents.
3. Requestor's phone number.
4. Requestor's fax number.

This information must be faxed to:

"CN-IC" MERGER PROPOSAL
Office of Congressional & Public Services
Surface Transportation Board
Fax number (202) 565-9016

Hearing Room seating reservations will be limited to only one representative per news medium or news organization. All seating reservations will be accepted in the order in which they are received by fax. The 15 requestors for Hearing Room seating whose reservations are received first will be contacted to confirm receipt and to relay specific instructions for the issuance of media passes in advance of the hearing.

Without exception, media members holding "Hearing Room" passes must be seated by 9:45 a.m. on the morning of the oral argument and the morning of the voting conference in the section reserved for them. Any seat reserved for a media member that is unoccupied at that time will be given to the media member who is next in order for a seat, according to a list the Board will compile based on its chronological receipt of media seating reservation requests. Hearing Room passes will be checked at the door and are non-transferable.

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