[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 99 (Friday, May 21, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29345-29346]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-11590]


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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 with certain 
requirements of its safety standards. 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.

Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation (Metra)

[Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2003-16891]

    The Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation 
(Metra) seeks a waiver of compliance from certain provisions of the 
Railroad Operating Practices, 49 CFR Part 218. Specifically, Metra 
requests relief from the requirements of 49 CFR 218.25, Workers on a 
Main Track, at Amtrak's Chicago Union Station.
    Metra operates passenger trains out of the north side of the 
Chicago Union Station, which were formally operated by the Milwaukee 
Road. In the past, Metra conducted its operations under the conditions 
of waiver RSOR 82-1, which had been previously granted to the Milwaukee 
Road on May 24, 1982. This waiver provided relief from the requirements 
of Sec.  218.27(c) and (e) at the Chicago Union Station on tracks 1-3-
5-7-9-11 and 13, for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific 
Railroad Company. That waiver prevented enginemen from coupling to 
equipment until a carman had assured the engineer that the 480-volt 
standby cable had been disconnected.
    It allowed carmen to plug and unplug the 480-volt standby cable to 
the equipment after the engine has been coupled to the equipment. It 
required a yellow light to be displayed from the north end marker 
bracket on the last car of the train, platform side, prior to 
connecting the standby cable. An engineman was prohibited from 
restoring AC power to the train from the head end, until the yellow 
light was removed. The reason the Milwaukee Road requested the relief 
was to avoid filling the area under Union Station with diesel fumes. 
They stated that the time it would take to establish and/or remove blue 
signal protection was too long.

[[Page 29346]]

    In early December 2003, Amtrak changed the status of the 
aforementioned station tracks from other than main track to main track, 
thereby voiding the provisions of the original waiver. Blue signal 
protection is now shifted from Sec.  218.27, Workers on Other Than Main 
Track, to Sec.  218.25, Workers on Main Track.
    Metra is requesting FRA to consider allowing the provisions of the 
old Milwaukee Road waiver to be expanded to include the provisions of 
Sec.  218.25 for all stub-ended tracks at Chicago Union Station. This 
will permit the railroad to connect and disconnect standby power to the 
cab car or locomotive end of the train(s) which are at or near the 
bumping post of the former ``other than main track,'' when they are in 
the same position on the new stub ended tracks.
    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-
2003-16891) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Docket 
Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 7th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20590. Communications received within 30 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 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.
    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). The Statement 
may also be found at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC on May 17, 2004.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-11590 Filed 5-20-04; 8:45 am]
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