[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 224 (Tuesday, November 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 70654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-23027]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2005-21964]


Long Island Railroad; Supplemental Notice of Public Hearing and 
Extension of Comment Period

    On September 16, 2005, FRA published a notice in the Federal 
Register announcing the Long Island Railroad's (LIRR) intent to be 
granted a waiver of compliance from certain provisions of the Railroad 
Operating Practices regulations, 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
part 218, regarding blue signal protection of workers. See 70 FR 54801. 
Specifically, LIRR requests relief from the requirements of 49 CFR 
218.29 Alternate methods of protection, at its Diesel Service 
Facilities in Richmond Hills, NY, and Long Island City, NY.
    According to LIRR, both facilities are stub-end yards jointly used 
by both its transportation and mechanical forces. These yards function 
to service, maintain, inspect, and dispatch the diesel passenger fleet 
for the LIRR. Each facility has a speed limit of 5 mph, with fixed 
derails on each service track, and manually operated switches. Yard 
movement is controlled by a yardmaster. Due to the configuration and 
service demands, the yard cannot facilitate the placement of a derail 
at the 150-foot interval as prescribed in Sec.  218.29. Additionally, 
LIRR believes that lining and locking the manual switches increases 
potential error of proper switch alignment, and is a safety concern for 
all employees working in the area. Therefore, LIRR requests that 
employees at these two facilities be allowed to place derails at a 
distance of 50-feet from the equipment. LIRR states that they will post 
signage to reinforce the 5-mph speed restriction, as well as paint 
physical clearance lines denoting the 50-foot distance.
    As a result of the comments received by FRA concerning this waiver 
petition, FRA has determined that a public hearing is necessary before 
a final decision is made on this petition. Accordingly, a public 
hearing is hearby set to begin at 9 a.m. on December 21, 2005, in 
Conference Room 820 at the Hunters Point Plaza, 47-40 21st Street, Long 
Island City, New York 11101. Interested parties are invited to present 
oral statements at this hearing.
    The hearing will be informal and will be conducted in accordance 
with FRA's Rules of Practice (49 CFR part 211.25) by a representative 
designated by FRA. FRA's representative will make an opening statement 
outlining the scope of the hearing, as well as any additional 
procedures for the conduct of the hearing. The hearing will be a non-
adversarial proceeding in which all interested parties will be given 
the opportunity to express their views regarding this waiver petition, 
without cross-examination. After all initial statements have been 
completed, those persons wishing to make a brief rebuttal statements 
will be given an opportunity to do so in the same order in which 
initial statements were made.
    In addition, FRA is extending the comment period in this proceeding 
until December 30, 2005. FRA reserves the right to announce a further 
extension of the comment period for the purpose of receiving post-
hearing submissions should that appear appropriate in the judgment of 
the Board based on testimony received at the public hearing. All 
communications concerning these proceedings should identify the 
appropriate docket number (Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2005-
21964) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Docket Management 
Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 7th Street, SW., Washington, 
DC 20590. 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 November 15, 2005.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 05-23027 Filed 11-21-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P