[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4511-4512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-2505]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[FRA Docket No. HS-96-1]


Petitions for Waivers of Compliance

    Notice is hereby given that the Southern Pacific Transportation 
Company (SPT), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) and the 
United Transportation Union (UTU) have jointly petitioned the Federal 
Railroad Administration (FRA) for a waiver of compliance with a 
provision of the Federal hours of service laws (49 U.S.C. 21103(b)(4)) 
affecting train employees.
    The Federal hours of service laws currently make it unlawful for a 
railroad carrier to require specified train employees to remain on duty 
in excess of 12 hours, except as provided in 49 U.S.C. 21102(a) and 
21103(c). In addition, the Federal hours of service laws define time on 
duty for train employees to include time spent in deadhead 
transportation to duty assignment, but define time spent in deadhead 
transportation from a duty assignment to the place of final release as 
neither time on duty nor off duty.
    Section 21108(a) of title 49 of the United States Code provides 
that a railroad carrier and all labor organizations representing any 
class or craft of directly affected covered service employees of the 
railroad carrier, may jointly petition for approval of a waiver, in 
whole or in part, of compliance with the Federal hours of service laws 
to enable the establishment of one of more pilot projects to 
demonstrate the possible benefits of implementing alternatives to the 
strict application of the requirements of the hours of service laws to 
such class or craft of employees.
    The petitioners seek a waiver pursuant to this section, in order to 
establish a pilot project in which certain SPT train employees may be 
permitted to treat travel time to a duty assignment as commuting time 
that would otherwise be counted as on-duty time under FRA's application 
of the 

[[Page 4512]]
deadheading provision of the Federal hours of service laws. Affected 
SPT train employees (engineers and trainmen) operate under an 
agreement, commonly known as the Los Angeles Basin agreement 
(agreement), in unassigned freight pool service (BLE) and pool freight 
service (UTU) between Los Angeles (LATC) and West Colton, California. 
Train employees called for service under this agreement may go on or 
off duty at LATC, Dolores (ICTF) or West Colton.
    FRA has interpreted the Federal hours of service laws as requiring 
that deadheading time include personal automobile travel to a point of 
duty assignment other than the regular reporting point of an individual 
train employee. SPT, BLE and UTU seek waiver relief from FRA's 
interpretation to allow train employees covered by the agreement to 
report on or off duty at the identified locations without including 
personal automobile travel time as time on duty for purposes of 49 
U.S.C. 21103(b)(4).
    The SPT, BlE, and UTU state ``that the agreements will positively 
impact safety by allowing each employee to have additional rest between 
tours of duty thereby providing less stress.'' The petitioners also 
state ``it is expected that these agreements will result in less 
personnel turnover on these assignments.''
    Interested parties are invited to participate in these proceedings 
by submitting written views, data or comments. FRA does not anticipate 
scheduling a public hearing in connection with these proceedings since 
the facts do not appear to warrant a hearing. If any interested party 
desires an opportunity for oral comment, they should notify FRA, in 
writing, before the end of the comment period and specify the basis of 
their request.
    All communications concerning these proceedings should identify the 
waiver petition docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number HS-
96-01) and must be submitted in triplicate to the Docket Clerk, Office 
of Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad Administration, Nassif Building, 400 
Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. Communications received 
within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice will be 
considered by FRA before final action is taken. Comments received after 
that date will be considered as far as practicable. All written 
communications concerning these proceedings are available for 
examination during regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) in room 
8201, Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590.

    Issued in Washington, DC on February 1, 1996.
Phil Olekszyk,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Compliance and Program 
Implementation.
[FR Doc. 96-2505 Filed 2-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-M