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2015.04.21 PC Packet
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2015.04.21 PC Packet
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Docket No. FD 35749 <br /> <br />4 <br />request. See 49 U.S.C. § 11101.10 The Town’s orders prohibiting all rail traffic to the <br />warehouse conflict with the federal right of Tighe to request common carrier service and the <br />federal obligation of Pan Am, a rail common carrier, to provide that service, as well as the <br />Board’s exclusive jurisdiction over that service. 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b)(1). As the federal courts <br />and the Board have stated repeatedly, where a local regulation conflicts with the rights and <br />obligations contained in the Interstate Commerce Act, federal law will preempt the local <br />regulation. City of Auburn, 154 F.3d at 1031; City of Austell, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17236, at <br />*19-22; CSXT, slip op. at 8-9; Town of Ayer, slip op. at 8-11. The Town’s zoning decision <br />holds that use of the Montvale Yard as a freight yard is not allowed pursuant to municipal zoning <br />laws, and its order requires all rail traffic to the warehouse “to immediately cease and desist.”11 <br />Such an attempt to prohibit common carrier rail transportation directly conflicts with the most <br />fundamental common carrier rights and obligations provided by federal law and the Board’s <br />exclusive jurisdiction over that service. The Town’s actions are therefore plainly preempted by <br />§ 10501(b). <br /> <br />The Town’s principal argument in support of its attempt to stop all interstate freight rail <br />service to the warehouse is that the track immediately adjacent to the warehouse is private track, <br />and therefore, the Town argues, federal preemption should not apply to local regulations directed <br />at this track.12 Pan Am contests the Town’s categorization of the track as private track. 13 <br /> <br />As an initial matter, the Town’s zoning decision and its cease and desist order are not <br />limited to the allegedly private track. Instead, the zoning decision by its terms applies to the <br />entire property at 43-45 Holton Street, on which the two tracks are located,14 and the cease and <br />desist order applies by its terms to “all rail traffic to the warehouse.”15 <br /> <br />In any event, the dispute between the parties regarding the nature of the track <br />immediately adjacent to the warehouse is not dispositive. Even if we assume this track is private <br />track (which we need not decide here), this does not permit the Town to deprive Tighe of its <br />federal right to receive common carrier rail service over the track. As previously noted, Tighe <br />has rights provided by federal law to ask for and receive common carrier rail service from Pan <br />Am, a rail carrier providing service subject to the Board’s jurisdiction. Thus, even if we <br />construed the Town’s action narrowly as directed solely at Tighe, and solely at a short piece of <br />allegedly private track located adjacent to the warehouse, there remains a fundamental conflict <br />between the Town’s regulation and the rights of Tighe and Pan Am to request and provide, <br /> <br />10 These federal rights and obligations include, for example, the right of a shipper to <br />require a carrier, under certain circumstances, to construct and operate a switch connection to <br />connect the shipper’s private side track with the interstate network. See 49 U.S.C. § 11103. <br />11 Pet., Ex. B at 2, 4 (Decision No. 3639 & Amended Decision After Remand). <br />12 Reply 1-4; Pet., Ex. B at 4 (Amended Decision After Remand). <br />13 See Pet. 14-17. <br />14 Pet., Ex. B at 2 (addressing the warehouse property at 43-45 Holton Street). <br />15 Id. at 4 (Amended Decision After Remand).
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