[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 101 (Tuesday, May 25, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29778-29779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-11698]


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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) has received a request for a waiver of compliance of 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 favor of relief.

Norfolk Southern Corporation

[Docket Number FRA-2003-16203]

    Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) seeks to modify existing waiver 
FRA-2002-11896, which is a conditional waiver of compliance from 
certain provisions of the Safety Appliances Standards, 49 CFR part 231, 
and Power Brakes and Drawbars regulations, 49 CFR part 232, concerning 
the operation of RoadRailer equipment in Triple Crown Service over 
their railroad system. Specifically, NS requests that FRA modify the 
existing waiver to incorporate the use of ``Railrunner'' equipment in 
its RoadRailer operations.
    The ``Railrunner'' equipment is essentially a set of highway 
trailer chassis and intermediate and transition rail bogies that allows 
the transport of ship containers by both highway and rail modes. The 
ship containers are placed on a highway ``Railrunner'' chassis at the 
shipping terminal where they can be transported by highway to a rail 
terminal. Upon arrival at a rail terminal, the chassis and container

[[Page 29779]]

combinations are coupled to and made an integral part of a 
``Railrunner'' rail bogie combination. Once the highway ``Railrunner'' 
chassis has been converted to rail mode by use of the rail bogies, the 
``Railrunner'' units can then be assembled behind a RoadRailer train 
for shipment to another terminal on the NS system. NS would introduce 
the ``Railrunner'' equipment into their service using existing 
RoadRailer trains and routes on its system network.
    Norfolk Southern requests the following amendments to the existing 
RoadRailer waiver: (1) The waiver will apply to Norfolk Southern rail 
operations handling RoadRailer and Railrunner equipment; (2) 
Interchange of RoadRailer-Railrunner equipment will only be permitted 
with a railroad that has a comparable waiver to operate the RoadRailer-
Railrunner equipment; and (3) RoadRailer-Railrunner equipment will not 
be handled with conventional railroad rolling equipment and will only 
be operated in trains consisting exclusively of RoadRailer-Railrunner 
units.
    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. I f any interested party 
desires an opportunity for oral comment, they should notify the 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-
2003-16203) and must be submitted in triplicate to the Docket Clerk, 
DOT Central Document Management Facility, Room PL-401, Washington, DC 
20590-0001. 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 (9a.m-5p.m) at DOT Central 
Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., 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.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by 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 19, 2004.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-11698 Filed 5-24-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P