[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 218 (Thursday, November 9, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67469-67470]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-28730]


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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

[[Page 67470]]

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 favor of 
relief.

Norfolk Southern Corporation

[Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2000-8045]

    Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) seeks to amend temporary waiver 
PB-98-1 by extending the expiration date to December 31, 2001.
    Part 232.21(a) requires that ``An emergency brake application 
command from the front unit of the device shall activate the emergency 
air valve at the rear of the train within one second.'' According to 
NS, their front unit sends an emergency brake command in 1.675 seconds, 
of which a significant portion of this time is involved in coding the 
unique signal that provides a security barrier against an attempted 
malicious emergency command from an outside source, or an accidental 
transmission from another front unit that may have an erroneous rear 
number inputted. The NS system is designed to code a unique message 
between the individual devices. These messages are separate from the 
rear unit number and are coded and initialized only during a five 
minute window at the initial terminal setup and testing of the system. 
NS believes this function provides a higher level of security than the 
two-way systems currently used by other Class I railroads.
    Part 232.21(f) requires ``the availability of the front-to-rear 
communications link shall be checked automatically at least every ten 
minutes.'' The system used by NS does not have front-to-rear 
communications checked automatically every ten minutes. NS claims their 
system communications failure warning is linked to the rear-to-front 
portion of the messaging. If five minutes elapse, since a good message 
was received by the front unit, a ``STANDBY'' message is displayed on 
the front unit. This message informs the engineer that communication is 
lost.
    Part 232.23(d) permits NS to use these devices because ``Each two-
way end-of-train device purchased by any person prior to promulgation 
of these regulations shall be deemed to meet the design and performance 
requirements contained in Sec. 232.21.''
    It is NS's desire to redesign all of their devices to comply with 
Sec. 232.21. In order to facilitate a smooth transition from the 
existing NS mode to the mode that is currently being used by the rest 
of the Class I railroads, NS requested and on June 8, 1998, was granted 
a temporary waiver of Sec. 232.21(a) and (f) for the procurement and 
operation of a dual mode device for three years. The dual mode device 
is a dual frequency, two-way system which will operate in both the NS 
and the current compliant mode. When these devices are operated in the 
complaint mode, they will comply with current regulations. However, 
when they are operated in the NS mode, they will be compatible with 
existing NS devices as described above.
    NS would like to modify existing waiver PB-98-1 by extending the 
expiration date to December 31, 2001, at which time they believe the 
entire NS locomotive fleet will be compliant with the current design 
and operating standards.
    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-
2000-8045) and must be submitted to the Docket Management Facility, 
Room PL-401, (Plaza level) 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 
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 the 
above facility. 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 November 3, 2000.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 00-28730 Filed 11-8-00; 8:45 am]
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