§11301 Equipment Trusts: Recordation; Evidence of Indebtedness

Summary

Requires that mortgages, leases, equipment-trust papers, conditional sale papers, and similar documents that show a security interest in ships, railroad cars, locomotives, other rolling stock, or their accessories (like racks and superstructures) used in interstate commerce must be filed with the Board to perfect that security interest. Assignments and changes to those papers, including releases or satisfactions, must also be filed. The papers must be written, signed by the parties, and acknowledged or verified as the Board requires. Once filed, the document gives public notice and can be enforced against everyone. You do not also have to file the same document under other federal, state, or local recording laws. This does not change chapter 313 of title 46. The Board must keep a public record system that gives each filing a consecutive number and a date and hour stamp, plus an index listing names and addresses of the main debtors, trustees, guarantors, and other parties. The Board may hire private contractors to help. Foreign documents that are valid under another country’s law and cover equipment marked to a person or company of that country are treated the same as if filed here. Filed or recognized interests are perfected in all places, and state or foreign law applies to issues not covered by these rules. The Board must also keep a railway equipment register in the same format the Interstate Commerce Commission used on January 1, 1996, and make it public.