WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will hear two oral arguments on May 12 at its Washington headquarters.
The first case concerns a challenge by Canadian National Railway Co. to an arbitration award that the company says would block a planned consolidation of its Troy, Mich., and Homewood, Ill., dispatching facilities. The American Train Dispatchers Association opposes the challenge, saying the arbitrator correctly found that CN has not upgraded its dispatching system and trained its dispatchers in a way that would allow the consolidation to proceed.
The second case centers around the proposal by GNP Rly, Inc., to acquire the right to restore rail service over two segments of railroad right-of-way that are currently reserved for a recreational trail.
GNP is asking the Board to vacate the Notice of Interim Trail Use it issued for these segments so the carrier can serve freight customers. King County, Wash., the trail sponsor, and the City of Redmond, Wash., oppose the request, saying that GNP does not own the right-of-way or have any other contractual rights to it, and so is not in a position to resume rail service.
