Belvidere & Delaware River Railway Abandonment, 3,288 Feet, Hunterdon County, NJ

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Belvidere & Delaware River Railway Company, Inc. (BDR) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart
F— Exempt Abandonments to abandon approximately 3,288 linear feet of rail extending from Alexandria Creek milepost 34.27 to a point 566.75 feet south
of milepost 35 in Hunterdon County, N.J. (the Line). The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Code 08848.

BDR has certified that: (1) no local freight traffic has moved over the Line for at least 15 years; (2) no overhead traffic
has moved over the Line for at least 15 years and, therefore, there is no overhead traffic that needs to be rerouted; (3)
no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or by a state or local government on behalf of such user)
regarding cessation of service over the Line is pending with either the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or any U.S. District
Court or has been decided in favor of a complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(b)
and 1105.8(c) (notice of environmental and historic reports), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1)
(notice to government agencies) have been met.

As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected by the abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad—Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether this

  condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed.

Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received, (1) this exemption will be effective on May 9, 2026, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve
environmental issues must be filed by April 17, 2026. (2) Formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2) and interim trail use/railbanking requests under 49
CFR 1152.29 must be filed by April 20, 2026. (3) Petitions to reopen and requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April 29, 2026.

All pleadings, referring to Docket No. AB 1301X, must be filed with the Surface Transportation Board either via e-filing on
the Board's website or in writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading
must be served on BDR's representative, John K. Fiorilla, Dyer & Peterson, PC, 322 US Highway 46 W, Suite 220, Parsippany,
NJ 07054.

If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio.

BDR has filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the potential effects, if any, of the abandonment
on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) by April 14, 2026. The
Draft EA will be available to interested persons on the Board's website, by writing to OEA, or by calling OEA at (202) 245-0294.
If you require an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please call (202) 245-0245. Comments on environmental
or historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the Draft EA becomes available to the public.

Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate,
in a subsequent decision.

Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), BDR shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that
it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If consummation has not been effected by BDR's filing
of a notice of consummation by April 9, 2027, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority
to abandon will automatically expire.

Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.

Decided: April 3, 2026.

By the Board, Anika S. Cooper, Chief Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel.

Zantori Dickerson, Clearance Clerk. [FR Doc. 2026-06791 Filed 4-8-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

Footnotes

(1) Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a formal expression of intent to file an offer, indicating the type
of financial assistance they wish to provide (i.e., subsidy or purchase) and demonstrating that they are preliminarily financially responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2)(i).

(2) The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's
Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C. 2d 377 (1989). Any request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate
action before the exemption's effective date.

(3) Filing fees for OFAs and trail use requests can be found at 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25) and (27), respectively.

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