[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 21, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76517-76518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27902]


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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 favour of relief.

Union Railroad Company [Docket Number FRA-2004-19260]

    The Union Railroad (URR), a Class III switching railroad, seeks a 
waiver of compliance from the requirements of Title 49 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) 223.13 Requirements for existing cabooses for nine 
cabooses to be used in revenue freight service. The URR is

[[Page 76518]]

engaged in general railroad transportation, and provides railroad 
switching service primarily to the steel industry. In addition to steel 
mills, the railroad serves the coal industry through Duquesne Wharf, a 
coke production facility at Clairton, Pennsylvania, and more than 30 
other customers in the automotive, chemical, and aggregate business.
    The URR currently consists of 65 miles of main track and 
approximately 200 miles of yard tracks and sidings, all located within 
a 10-mile radius in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The northernmost 
point is located at North Bessemer, Pennsylvania, where the railroad 
proceeds southward through Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, Monongahela 
Junction, Clairton Junction and Clairton.
    Laminated safety glass is proposed to be used in lieu of glazing 
materials that meet the requirements of FRA Type I and Type II. 
Cabooses on the URR, which have been recently retired from service and 
scrapped, were operating with laminated safety glazing under a similar 
waiver granted in 1980 [FRA Docket Number RSGM-80-1]. There have been 
no reported acts of vandalism or breakage of caboose glazing caused by 
striking objects. Cabooses C-100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 
and 109 will be operating over the same routes and schedules as the 
equipment covered by the previous waiver.
    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-
2004-19260) and must be submitted in triplicate 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 DOT 
Central Docket Management Facility, Room Pl-401 (Plaza Level), 400 
Seventh Street SW., Washington. 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 19377-78). The statement 
may also be found at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC on December 13, 2004.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-27902 Filed 12-20-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P