[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 11, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 48904]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-18296]



[[Page 48904]]

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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.

New Jersey Transit

[Docket Number FRA-2004-18577]

    New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) seeks a waiver of compliance from 
the provisions of the Federal Track Safety Standards, 49 CFR Section 
213.345, Subpart G, regarding certain high speed vehicle qualification 
testing requirements. The waiver would provide relief from having to 
use instrumented wheel set (IWS) tests in order to qualify its new 
COMET V coach equipment for speeds up to 100 mph.
    The petitioner recently placed in service 230 of its new COMET V 
coach cars on AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor (NEC) at speeds up to 90 mph. 
The petitioner claims that the equipment has been designed and tested 
in accordance with the Federal Passenger Equipment Safety Standards 
(CFR Part 238) and that its suspension system specifically meets the 
requirements for Tier I equipment described in CFR Part 238.227(a). The 
petitioner also claims that the truck and suspension systems on the 
COMET V are virtually identical to the COMET IV cars that have operated 
at up to 100 mph on the NEC since 1996 [and are grandfathered under CFR 
Part 213.345(a)]. Because of the similarity between the COMET V and 
COMET IV, NJ Transit considered the COMET V to be qualified to run at 
100 mph and requested permission from the FRA in July of 2002.
    The FRA's analysis determined that there are enough physical 
differences between the COMET V and COMET IV which, when considered 
cumulatively, prevent the FRA from considering these vehicles as 
equivalent for the purposes of ``grandfathering'' under CFR Part 
213.345(a), Subpart G. In its April 9, 2003 letter, FRA approved the 
petitioner's plan to conduct an equivalency test for the purpose of 
gathering data necessary to document a Request for Waiver under CFR 
Section 213.317 Waivers. During the week of August 11-15, 2003, the 
petitioner, in cooperation with AMTRAK and under the observation of the 
FRA, conducted equivalency testing of the COMET V and COMET IV on the 
NEC between Newark, NJ and Philadelphia, PA at speeds up to 110 mph in 
non-revenue service. The petitioner submitted favorable test results to 
the FRA on March 8, 2004 which confirm that the COMET V and COMET IV 
are equivalent. The petitioner feels that the equivalency testing is 
sufficient to warrant the operation of the COMET V on the NEC at up to 
100 mph in lieu of the IWS tests required in CFR Part 213.345.
    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 communication concerning these proceedings should identify the 
appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-
2004-18577) 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 August 5, 2004.
Michael J. Logue,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Compliance and Program 
Implementation.
[FR Doc. 04-18296 Filed 8-10-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P