[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 63 (Monday, April 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17142-17143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6651]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Notice of Application for Approval of Discontinuance or 
Modification of a Railroad Signal System or Relief From the 
Requirements of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 236

    Pursuant to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 235 and 
49 U.S.C. 20502(a), the following railroad has petitioned the Federal 
Railroad Administration (FRA) seeking approval for the discontinuance 
or modification of the signal system or relief from the requirements of 
49 CFR part 236 as detailed below.

Docket Number FRA-2005-20383

    Applicant: Maine Eastern Railroad, Mr. Jonathan F. Shute, General 
Manager, 685 Sligo Road, North Yarmouth, Maine 04097.
    The Maine Eastern Railroad (MERR) seeks relief from the 
requirements of the Rules, Standard and Instructions, Title 49 CFR, 
part 236, section 236.312, on the Carlton Bridge, at Bath, Maine, 
milepost 30.0, on the Rockland Branch, to the extent that MERR be 
permitted to detect displacement of the bridge locking members, when 
displaced more than two inches from their proper position, instead of 
the existing one inch requirement.
    Applicant's justification for relief: The bridge and interlocking 
have recently been upgraded with new span lock rams, new rail seat 
detectors, and a new signal interlocking. It is not possible to 
maintain the one inch span lock retraction limit in cold temperature 
extremes, due to the contraction of the steel members in the span 
itself. The contraction of the steel affects the moveable span's west 
end span lock adjustment, which requires a maintainer to travel to the 
bridge piers to seasonally adjust both west end span lock circuit 
controller boxes to a setting of two inches to compensate for the 
contraction, and then again later in the season he must return the 
settings to one inch. This often places the maintainer at a safety risk 
due to icy conditions. The new power driven span lock rams are 
mechanically engaged for a distance of two feet to lock the moveable 
span down, and a change in the ram retraction limit from one to two 
inches clearly causes no safety risk.
    Any interested party desiring to protest the granting of an 
application shall set forth specifically the grounds upon which the 
protest is made, and include a concise statement of the interest of the 
party in the proceeding. Additionally, one copy of the protest shall be 
furnished to the applicant at the address listed above.
    All communications concerning this proceeding should be identified 
by the docket number and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT 
Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 7th 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Communications received within 
45 days of the date of this notice will be considered by the 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

[[Page 17143]]

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.
    FRA expects to be able to determine these matters without an oral 
hearing. However, if a specific request for an oral hearing is 
accompanied by a showing that the party is unable to adequately present 
his or her position by written statements, an application may be set 
for public hearing.

    Issued in Washington, DC on March 29, 2005.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 05-6651 Filed 4-1-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P