[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 63908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27318]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Petition for Waiver of Compliance

    In accordance with part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR), notice is hereby given that the Federal Railroad Administration 
(FRA) received a request for a waiver of compliance from certain 
requirements of its safety regulations. The individual petition is 
described below including, the party seeking relief, the regulatory 
provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the 
petitioner's arguments in favour of relief.

Texas Parks and Wildlife

[Docket Number FRA-2000-7270]

    Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) seeks a permanent waiver of 
compliance from 49 CFR 232.17(b)(2) to extend the clean, oil, test, and 
stencil (COT&S) period from 15 to 48 months on passenger cars they 
operate equipped with UC and L type air brakes. TPW operates the Texas 
State Railroad between Rusk and Palestine, Texas. They have two cars 
equipped with L type brakes and the rest have UC type brakes. Section 
232.17(b)(2) requires that brake equipment on passenger cars must be 
clean, repaired, lubricated and tested as often as necessary to 
maintain it in a safe and suitable condition for service but not less 
frequently than as required in Standard S-045 in the Manual of 
Standards and Recommended Practices of the Association of American 
Railroads. Standard S-045, A-III-256, Section 2.1.2, requires a COT&S 
every 15 months for this brake equipment. TPW has concluded that a car 
that runs on a passenger railroad using a 15 month cycle would be legal 
for 10,800 hours. TPW has calculated that if the equipment is in 
service only 60 percent of the 15 month cycle, then only 6,480 hours 
would be used. TPW claims that all of their annual runs, including 
specials and school runs, only total 1,100 hours a year. Therefore, TPW 
would like to extend the COT&S time period to 48 months, which would be 
less than 4,400 hours of actual service time.
    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 for 
their request.
    All communications concerning these proceedings should identify the 
appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-
2000-7270) and must be submitted in triplicate to the Docket Clerk, DOT 
Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401, Washington, DC. 20590-
0001. Communications received within 45 days of the date 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 (9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) at DOT 
Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 
Seventh Street S.W., Washington, DC. All documents in the public docket 
are also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at the 
docket facility's Web site at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2000.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 00-27318 Filed 10-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P