[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