45 U.S.C. § 1202 — Definitions

In this chapter: (1) “Alaska Railroad” means the United States agency operated by the Department of Transportation as a rail carrier in Alaska under the Act of March 12, 1914 and section 6(i) of the Department of Transportation Act, or, as the context requires, the railroad operated by that agency. (2) “Alaska Railroad Revolving Fund” means the public-enterprise fund maintained by the Treasury Department. Alaska Railroad revenues and appropriations for the railroad are deposited into it, and money is spent from it for Alaska Railroad operation, maintenance, and construction work authorized by law. (3) “Claim of valid existing rights” means any claim to Alaska Railroad rail properties recorded in the Department of the Interior by January 13, 1983. (4) “Date of transfer” means the date on which the Secretary delivers to the State the four documents referred to in section 1203(b)(1). (5) “Employees” means all permanent personnel employed by the Alaska Railroad on the date of transfer, including Alaska Railroad officers, unless this chapter indicates otherwise. (6) “Exclusive-use easement” means an easement that gives its holder: (A) the exclusive right to use, possess, and enjoy the land’s surface for transportation, communication, and transmission purposes and for support functions connected with those purposes; (B) the right to use as much of the land’s subsurface as is necessary for those purposes and support functions; (C) support from underneath and from the sides of the land subject to the easement; and (D) the right, at the easement holder’s choice, to fence all or part of the land, attach tracks, fixtures, and structures to it, and keep other people out of all or part of it. (7) “Native Corporation” has the same meaning as in section 102(6) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. (8) “Officers of the Alaska Railroad” means the employees holding these positions at the Alaska Railroad on the day before the date of transfer: General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Assistant to the General Manager, Chief of Administration, and Chief Counsel. (9) “Public lands” has the same meaning as in section 3(e) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. (10) “Rail properties of the Alaska Railroad” means all United States right, title, and interest in land, buildings, facilities, machinery, equipment, supplies, records, rolling stock, trade names, accounts receivable, goodwill, and other real and personal property, both tangible and intangible, in which the United States or one of its agencies or instrumentalities had, on January 14, 1983, an interest reserved, withdrawn, appropriated, owned, administered, otherwise held, or validly claimed for the Alaska Railroad. This also excludes property that was disposed of and includes property acquired in the ordinary course of business after January 14, 1983, but before the date of transfer. It also includes the exclusive-use easement in Denali National Park and Preserve conveyed to the State under this chapter. The term excludes: (A) the United States’ unexercised reservation of future rights-of-way required in all patents for land taken up, entered, or located in Alaska under the Act of March 12, 1914; (B) the United States’ right to use eminent domain; (C) money in the Alaska Railroad Revolving Fund that the Secretary shows, after consulting the State, is unobligated money appropriated from general tax revenues or is needed to pay obligations the United States incurred in operating the Alaska Railroad that would have been paid from that fund without this chapter and that the State does not assume under this chapter; (D) personal property that, before the date of transfer under section 1203, the Secretary shows, after consulting the State, is needed for United States functions after the date of transfer; and (E) land or an interest in land inside Denali National Park and Preserve, except as this chapter specifies. (11) “Right-of-way,” except when used in section 1208, means: (A) an area extending at least 100 feet on both sides of the center line of an Alaska Railroad main line or branch line; or (B) an area extending on both sides of that center line that was appropriated or retained by or for the Alaska Railroad and is narrower than the area in subparagraph (A) because military jurisdiction over, or non-Federal ownership of, land next to the line makes it narrower. (12) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Transportation. (13) “State” means the State of Alaska or the State-owned railroad, as the context requires. (14) “State-owned railroad” means the authority, agency, corporation, or other entity that the State of Alaska designates or contracts with to own, operate, or manage the Alaska Railroad’s rail properties, or, as the context requires, the railroad owned, operated, or managed by that authority, agency, corporation, or other entity. (15) “Village Corporation” has the same meaning as in section 3(j) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.