[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] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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