Compilation of Certain Railroad Laws Within the Jurisdiction of the ... - United States

SEC. 101. (a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds and declares that(1) Essential rail service in the midwest and northeast region of the United States is provided by railroads which are today insolvent and attempting to undergo reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act.

(2) This essential rail service is threatened with cessation or significant curtailment because of the inability of the trustees of such railroads to formulate acceptable plans of reorganization. This rail service is operated over rail properties which were acquired for a public use, but which have been permitted to deteriorate and now require extensive rehabilitation and modernization.

(3) The public convenience and necessity require adequate and efficient rail service in this region and throughout the Nation to meet the needs of commerce, the national defense, the environment, and the service requirements of passengers, United States mail, shippers, States and their political subdivisions, and consumers.

(4) Continuation and improvement of essential rail service in this region is also necessary to preserve and maintain adequate national rail services and an efficient national rail transportation system.

(5) Rail service and rail transportation offer economic and environmental advantages with respect to land use, air pollution, noise levels, energy efficiency and conservation, resource allocation, safety, and cost per ton-mile of movement to such extent that the preservation and maintenance of adequate and efficient rail service is in the national interest.

(6) These needs cannot be met without substantial action by the Federal Government.

(b) PURPOSES.-It is therefore declared to be the purpose of Congress in this Act to provide for

(1) the identification of a rail service system in the midwest and northeast region which is adequate to meet the needs and service requirements of this region and of the national rail transportation system;

(2) the reorganization of railroads in this region into an economically viable system capable of providing adequate and efficient rail service to the region;

(3) the establishment of the United States Railway Association, with enumerated powers and responsibilities;

(4) the establishment of the Consolidated Rail Corporation, with enumerated powers and responsibilities;

(5) assistance to States and local and regional transportation authorities for continuation of local rail services threatened with cessation; and

(6) necessary Federal financial assistance at the lowest possible cost to the general taxpayer.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 102. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

(1) "Association" means the United States Railway Association, established under section 201 of this Act;

(2) "Commission" means the Interstate Commerce Commission;

(3) "Commuter authority" means any State, local, or regional authority, corporation, or other entity established for purposes of providing commuter service, and includes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the New Jersey Transit Corporation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, any successor agencies, and any entity created by one or more such agencies for the purpose of operating, or contracting for the operation of, commuter service;

(4) "Commuter service" means short-haul rail passenger service operated in metropolitan and suburban areas, whether within or across the geographical boundaries of a State, usually characterized by reduced fare, multiple-ride, and commutation tickets, and by morning and evening peak period operations;

(5) "Corporation" means the Consolidated Rail Corporation required to be established under section 301 of this Act or its successor by merger, consolidation or other form of succession carried out under applicable law for the purpose of changing the State of its incorporation;

(6) "effective date of the final system plan" means the date on which the final system plan or any revised final system plan is deemed approved by Congress, in accordance with section 208 of this Act;

(7) "employees stock ownership plan" means a technique of corporate finance that uses a stock bonus trust or a company stock money purchase pension trust which qualifies under section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. 401(a)) in connection with the financing of corporate improvements, transfers in the ownership of corporate assets, and other capital requirements of a corporation and which is designed to build beneficial equity ownership of shares in the employer corporation into its employees substantially in proportion to their relative incomes, without requiring any cash outlay, any reduction in pay or other employee benefits, or the surrender of any other rights on the part of such employees; (8) "final system plan" means the plan of reorganization for the restructure, rehabilitation, and modernization of railroads

in reorganization prepared pursuant to section 206 and approved pursuant to section 208 of this Act;

(9) "Finance Committee" means the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association established under section 201(i) of this Act;

(10) "includes" and variants thereof should be read as if the phrase "but is not limited to" were also set forth;

(11) "local or regional transportation authority" includes a political subdivision of a State;

(12) "Office" means the Rail Services Planning Office established under section 205 of this Act;

(13) "profitable railroad" means a railroad which is not a railroad in reorganization. The term does not include the Corporation, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or a railroad leased, operated, or controlled by a railroad in reorganization in the region;

(14) "rail properties" means assets or rights owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a railroad (or a person owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a railroad) which are used or useful in rail transportation service; except that the term, when used in conjunction with the phrase "railroads leased, operated, or controlled by a railroad in reorganization", shall not include assets or rights owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by a Class I railroad which is not wholly owned, operated, or leased by a railroad in reorganization but is controlled by a railroad in reorganization;

(15) "railroad" means a common carrier by railroad as defined in section 1(3) of part I of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. 1(3)). The term includes the Corporation and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation;

(16) "railroad in reorganization" means a railroad which is subject to a bankruptcy proceeding and which has not been determined by a court to be reorganizable or not subject to reorganization pursuant to this Act as prescribed in section 207(b) of this Act. A "bankruptcy proceeding" includes a proceeding pursuant to section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. 205) and an equity receivership or equivalent proceeding;

(17) "Region" means the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois; the District of Columbia; and those portions of contiguous States in which are located rail properties owned or operated by railroads doing business primarily in the aforementioned jurisdictions (as determined by the Commission by order);

(18) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Transportation or the designated representative of the Secretary;

(19) "State" means any State or the District of Columbia; (20) "subsidiary" means any corporation 100 percent of whose total combined voting shares are, directly or indirectly, owned or controlled by the Corporation; and

(21) "supplemental transaction" means any transaction set forth in a proposal under section 305 of this Act under section 303(b) of this Act, under which the Corporation or a subsidiary

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