[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 185-186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22443]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket Number FRA-2006-25765]


Union Pacific Railroad Company; Notice of Public Hearing and 
Extension of Comment Period

    On November 28, 2006, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) 
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company's (UP) request for a waiver of compliance from certain 
provisions of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 232, 
Brake and System Safety Standards for Freight and Other Non-passenger 
Trains and Equipment; 49 CFR part 215, End of Train Devices; 49 CFR 
229, Freight Car Safety Standards; and 71 FR 68885, Locomotive Safety 
Standards. Specifically, UP requests that the following regulations be 
waived to allow inspections and tests to be performed on run-through 
trains originating in Mexico and subsequently interchanged to UP at 
Laredo, Texas, from the Kansas City Southern de Mexico Railroad (KCSM) 
and be considered valid without having to perform additional train or 
locomotive inspections by UP on the U.S. side of the border: 49 CFR 
232.205, Class I brake test-initial terminal inspection; 49 CFR 
232.409, Inspection and testing of end-of-train devices; 49 CFR 215.13, 
Pre-departure inspection; and 49 CFR 229.21, Daily inspection.
    FRA received several comments from interested parties and requests 
for a public hearing and an extension of the public comment period. 
With this notice, FRA is granting both of these requests.
    Accordingly, a public hearing is hereby scheduled to begin at 9 
a.m. on February 7, 2007, at La Posada Hotel and Suites, 1000 Zaragoza 
Street, in

[[Page 186]]

Laredo, Texas. Interested parties are invited to present oral 
statements at the hearing. The hearing will be informal and will be 
conducted in accordance with FRA's Rules of Practice (49 CFR 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 nonadversarial proceeding in which all interested parties will be 
given the opportunity to express their views regarding the waiver 
petition, without cross-examination. After all initial statements have 
been completed, individuals wishing to make a brief rebuttal statement 
will be given an opportunity to do so in the same order in which the 
initial statements were made.
    In addition, FRA is hereby extending the comment period to February 
21, 2007. All communications concerning this waiver petition should 
identify the appropriate docket number (FRA-2006-25765) 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. Documents in the public docket are also available for review 
and copying on the Internet at the docket facility 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 document, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the DOT 
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 December 26, 2006.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. E6-22443 Filed 12-29-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P