[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59580-59581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-16696]


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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.

[[Page 59581]]

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

[Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2005-22688]

    Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) seeks a 
waiver of compliance with 49 CFR 229.27(d)(2) (locomotive safety 
standards), which requires locomotives that are equipped with a self-
monitoring event recorder to undergo further maintenance and testing if 
a ``download of the event recorder, taken within the preceding 30 days 
and reviewed for the previous 48 hours of locomotive operation, reveals 
a failure to record a regularly recurring data element or reveals that 
any required data element is not representative of the actual 
operations of the locomotive during this time period.'' Specifically, 
49 CFR 229.27(d)(2) provides that, ``[i]f the review is not successful, 
further maintenance and testing shall be performed until a subsequent 
test is successful. When a successful test is accomplished, a record, 
in any medium, shall be made of that fact and of any maintenance work 
necessary to achieve the successful result. This record shall be kept 
at the location where the locomotive is maintained until a record of a 
subsequent successful test is filed. The download shall be taken from 
information stored in the certified crash-worthy crash-hardened event 
recorder memory module if the locomotive is so equipped.''
    SEPTA operates a fleet of MU passenger locomotives that have an 
event recorder incorporated within the cab signal system. The event 
recorder incorporates a software self-test every 250 milliseconds 
whenever the system is energized. If any event recorder input fails, a 
fault is declared, which causes a penalty brake application, and the 
fault is logged. SEPTA believes that the system has proved reliable 
with no data lost over the previous 10 years. SEPTA requests that they 
be allowed to continue this practice of checking fault indications at 
the time of periodic inspections, and if the waiver is granted, that 
they perform no annual downloads of their event recorders.
    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 (FRA-2005-22688) 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 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 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 October 4, 2006.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator, for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. E6-16696 Filed 10-6-06; 8:45 am]
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