[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 10, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 48560]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-18194]


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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.

St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad, Quebec, Inc.

[Docket Number FRA-2001-11068]

    The St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad, Quebec, Inc. has petitioned 
for a permanent waiver of compliance from the requirements of the 
Control of Alcohol and Drug Use, 49 CFR part 219, final rule effective 
June 11, 2004, on the expanded application of FRA alcohol and drug 
rules to its 6 to 8 foreign-railroad foreign-based employees who 
perform train service duties in the United States. Part 219 is FRA's 
alcohol and drug regulation that governs prohibitions, post-accident 
testing, testing for cause, identification of troubled employees, pre-
employment testing, and random testing. The petitioner states that the 
United States operations of the railroad are only five miles longer 
than the ten-mile limit specified in the amended part 219 and that 
there are no affordable means of conducting random alcohol and drug 
testings in Island Pond, Vermont. The railroad, a Genesee & Wyoming 
Company is headquartered in Auburn, Maine. Train crews based in 
Richmond, Quebec cross the United States border at Norton, Vermont and 
proceed 15 miles into the United States to Island Pond, Vermont.
    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-
2001-11068) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Central 
Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401, Washington, DC 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 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.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 3, 2004.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-18194 Filed 8-9-04; 8:45 am]
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