[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 31, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31003-31004]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10699]


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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 from certain 
requirements of its safety regulations. 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.

BNSF Railway

[Docket Number FRA-2003-15339]

    In 2003, BNSF Railway (BNSF) petitioned FRA requesting a waiver of 
compliance from certain provisions of 49 CFR part 232, Brake System 
Safety Standards for Freight and Other Non-Passenger Trains and 
Equipment. Specifically, Sec.  232.103(n)(3)(i), that requires ``all 
hand brakes shall be fully applied on all locomotives in the lead 
consist of an unattended train.'' See 68 FR 38740. FRA denied the 
petition without prejudice on December 3, 2003. It was stated in the 
denial letter that,

[[Page 31004]]

``FRA is not inclined to grant a ``blanket'' waiver for the entire BNSF 
system. We suggest that any future request should be more narrowly 
focused and supported by very specific data.''
    BNSF is now petitioning the FRA to reconsider the waiver by 
offering a more focused request that lists specific yard and terminal 
locations that are manned 24 hours--7 days week. BNSF claims that the 
reasons for seeking this relief is that injuries related to locomotive 
hand brakes continue to increase with no increased benefit of applying 
all the hand brakes to a locomotive consist. BNSF also contends that 
this request is in response to concerns expressed by Labor 
Organizations to the Transportation Group of BNSF's Safety Assurance 
and Compliance Program (SACP), in hopes of seeking resolution to this 
requirement. BNSF has listed 75 locations for FRA's consideration for 
exclusion from the requirements of applying hand brakes to every 
locomotive in a consist of an unattended train. These locations are 
available for review and copying on the Internet at the docket 
facility's Web site http://dms.dot.gov.
    Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to FRA. 
All written communications concerning this petition should identify the 
appropriate docket number (e.g., Docket Number FRA-2002-15339) and must 
be submitted in triplicate to the Associate Administrator for Safety, 
Federal Railroad Administration, 400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001. Comments received within 30 days of the date of this notice 
will be considered by FRA before any final action is taken. Although 
FRA does not anticipate scheduling a public hearing in connection with 
these proceedings, 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 written communications concerning these proceedings are 
available for examination during regular business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) 
at the Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 
400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. All documents in the public 
docket are also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at 
the docket facility's Web site 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) at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC on May 24, 2005.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 05-10699 Filed 5-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P