[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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