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>From the Surface Transportation Board, Washington, D.C.
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The federal Surface Transportation Board today announced it will hold a
public hearing this spring in Maine on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic
Railway's application to abandon 233 miles of rail line in Aroostook and
Penobscot counties.
The STB decided to hold a public hearing in Maine to allow
citizens and stakeholders to provide testimony on the effect
of the proposed abandonment. The hearing will be scheduled
after the April 26 deadline for the written record but
before the end of May. The Board will announce details on
the exact time and place for the hearing in the near future.
"This proposed abandonment would affect many shippers and
the local and regional economy and it is important that the
Board hears from as many voices as possible," said STB
Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. "The best way to do that is
for Washington to go to Maine instead of Maine coming to
Washington."
The state of Maine officially requested a public hearing on
March 4. Shippers and elected representatives from Maine,
including U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins and Rep. Michael H.
Michaud, as well as James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman
of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
echoed the call for a public hearing.
The full decision announcing the intention to hold a public
hearing in Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway,
Ltd—Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment—in Aroostook
and Penobscot Counties, ME, STB Docket No. AB-1043 (Sub-No.
1)( http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/40659?OpenDocument )
is available at www.stb.dot.gov.
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