[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 162 (Thursday, August 21, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50587-50588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21424]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Notice of Application for Approval of Discontinuance or 
Modification of a Railroad Signal System or Relief From Requirements

    Pursuant to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 235 and 
49 U.S.C. 20502(a), the following railroads have petitioned the Federal 
Railroad Administration (FRA) seeking approval for the discontinuance 
or modification of the signal system or relief from the requirements of 
49 CFR part 236 as detailed below.

Docket Number FRA-2003-15639

    Applicant: New Jersey Transit, Mr. William B. Duggan, Vice 
President and General Manager, Rail Operations, One Penn Plaza East, 
Newark, New Jersey 07105-2246.
    New Jersey Transit (NJT) seeks temporary relief from the 
requirements of section 236.566 of the Rules, Standard and 
Instructions, to the extent that NJT be permitted to operate non-
equipped New York Susquehanna and Western (NYS&W) steam locomotive 
number 142, in automatic train control territory, on NJT's Raritan 
Valley Line between Cranford, New Jersey, milepost 15.0 and High 
Bridge, New Jersey, milepost 52.2, on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 
and 14, 2003, in celebration of the City of Dunellen, New Jersey's 
event, ``Dunellen Railroad Days.'' In addition, NJT seeks temporary 
relief from the requirements in section 236.566 to the extent that NJT 
be permitted to operate non-equipped NYS&W steam locomotive number 142, 
in automatic train control territory, on NJT's Montclair and Morristown 
Lines between Newark, New Jersey, milepost 9.0 and Hackettstown, New 
Jersey, milepost 56.9, on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5, 2003, 
in celebration of the Borough of Lincoln Park, New Jersey's event, 
``Lincoln Park Days.''
    Also, excursion trips are in the planning stages that would either 
take place on NJT's Main Line to Suffern, New York, then over MTA 
Metro-North Railroad (MNR) to Port Jervis, New York, or on NJT's Bergen 
County Line to the NYS&W interchange at BT Interlocking, milepost 14.2. 
Thus, NJT seeks temporary relief from the requirements in section 
236.566 to the extent that NJT be permitted to operate non-equipped 
NYS&W steam locomotive number 142, in automatic train control 
territory, on NJT's Main Line between Jersey City, New Jersey, milepost 
2.2 and Suffern, New York, milepost 30.5, or on the Bergen County Line 
between Jersey City, New Jersey, milepost P 2.2 and Ridgewood Junction 
Interlocking, milepost 19.0, on Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 
and October 25 and 26, 2003, for the proposed NYS&W Technical and 
Historical Society events.
    Applicant's justification for relief: The three NJT lines are 
equipped with automatic block signals and operate under NORAC Rules 251 
and 261, and the steam excursion train movements for each event would 
be limited to no more than four trips daily, would not exceed 50 miles 
per hour, and would establish an absolute block ahead of each movement.
    Any interested party desiring to protest the granting of an 
application shall set forth specifically the grounds upon which the 
protest is made, and contain a concise statement of the interest of the 
party in the proceeding. Additionally, one copy of the protest shall be 
furnished to the applicant at the address listed above.
    All communications concerning this proceeding should be identified 
by the docket number and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT 
Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 7th 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Since the anticipated 
operations would take place early next month, communications must be 
received within 15 days of the date of this notice to be considered by 
the 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.-5 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.
    FRA wishes to inform all potential commenters that anyone is able 
to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our 
dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act 
Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 
65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.
    FRA expects to be able to determine these matters without an oral 
hearing. However, if a specific request for an oral hearing is 
accompanied by a showing that the party is unable to adequately present 
his or her position by written

[[Page 50588]]

statements, an application may be set for public hearing.

    Issued in Washington, DC on August 13, 2003.
George Gavalla,
Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 03-21424 Filed 8-20-03; 8:45 am]
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