[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7628-7629]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2920]


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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) has received a request for a waiver of compliance from 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.

Denton County Transportation Authority

[Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2010-0180]

    The Denton County Transportation Authority, Texas (DCTA), seeks a 
waiver of compliance from certain provision of Title 49 of the CFR. 
Specifically, DCTA has ordered 11 Stadler Bussnang AG, GTW 2/6 Diesel 
Multiple Units (DMU), the first of which will arrive in July of 2011, 
for use on its new ``A-train'' commuter rail service between Dallas, 
Texas, and Denton, TX. These vehicles are constructed by European 
manufacturer and meet European safety standards for crashworthiness and 
related safety measures. DCTA has submitted two petitions for relief 
simultaneously. The first petition for relief, the ``Base Waiver,'' 
seeks relief from certain requirements of Title 49 of the CFR, 
particularly part 238, Passenger Equipment Safety Standards (Sec. Sec.  
238.115, 238.121, 238.223, 238 Appendix D Locomotive Fuel Tanks, 
238.229, 238.230, 238.305, 238.309); part 229, Railroad Locomotive 
Safety Standards (Sec. Sec.  229.31, 229.51, 229.47, 229.71, 229.135, 
229 Appendix D Certification of Crashworthy Event Recorder); part 231, 
Railroad Safety Appliance Standards (Sec.  231.14); and Part 239, 
Passenger Train Emergency Preparedness (Sec.  239.101). The second 
petition for relief pertains to DCTA's plan to store, test, and 
maintain these DMU's on yard and out-of-service mainline tracks until 
FRA considers them for revenue service.
    DCTA is building its new ``A-train'' commuter rail service along a 
21.3-mile corridor adjacent to and parallel with Interstate 35 between 
Dallas, TX, and Denton, TX, along right-of-way-owned by Dallas Area 
Rapid Transit (DART) and featuring five (5) station stops. DART and 
DCTA directly operate the mainline and maintain trackage rights 
agreement with freight railroads for operation on the line. This rail 
corridor is currently active and is served only by the Dallas Garland 
and Northeastern Railroad (DGNO), which will continue to provide 
freight service to customers in the Lewisville, TX, area. DCTA has 
chosen these Stadler DMU's because DCTA states that they offer an 
equivalent or higher level of safety, security, and performance to the 
passengers and crew than conventional FRA-compliant equipment. 
Initially, DCTA will use FRA-approved and compliant RDC-1 Budd DMU's, 
leased from Trinity Railway Express (TRE), for a short period of time 
until FRA considers the Stadler DMU for revenue service. If FRA 
approves the Stadler DMU for revenue service, and in order to mitigate 
any potential hazards that may arise from mixing Stadler DMU's with the 
general railroad system, DCTA will operate its ``A-train'' commuter 
rail service during an exclusive passenger period that is temporally 
separate from DGNO freight trains. This temporal separation may not be 
necessary once DCTA submits criteria and procedures that provide a 
technical framework for presenting evidence to FRA in support of a 
petition for waiver of Tier 1 crashworthiness and occupant protection 
standards [Alternate Vehicle Technology (per guidelines set forth in 
the Engineering Task Force report to the Passenger Safety Working Group 
of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee)].
    Pertaining to the second petition, DCTA will be testing and 
commissioning the Stadler DMU's while sharing the facility and yard 
storage tracks at the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Facility with 
the leased RDC-1 DMU's. The O&M Facility has been designed to 
accommodate both the RDC and the Stadler DMU's sufficiently, with 
storage capacity to hold both fleets concurrently. In order to reduce 
potential hazards associated with co-mingling these two vehicle types 
in the O&M Facility, DCTA will operationally segregate the two types by 
using locked switches, derails, and blue flag protection. Testing on 
the mainline will be outlined in a Test Plan for FRA's approval and 
will occur in test zones and during times that no passenger or freight 
movements occur. DCTA states that this second petition for relief need 
only be applicable for the time period between FRA's approval of the 
``Base Waiver'' and upon DCTA receiving permission from FRA to begin 
using the Stadler DMU in revenue service.
    Noting that certain provisions in 49 CFR Part 231 pertaining to 
safety appliances are statutorily required, and therefore not subject 
to FRA's waiver authority, DCTA also requested that FRA exercise its 
authority under 49 U.S.C. 20306 to exempt DCTA from certain provisions 
of Chapter 203, Title 49 of the United States Code because the GTW 2/6 
DMU vehicles will be equipped with their own array of safety devices 
resulting in equivalent safety.
    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

[[Page 7629]]

the end of the comment period and specify the basis for their request.
    All communications concerning these proceedings should identify the 
appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-
2010-0180) and may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Operations Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., W12-140, Washington, DC 
20590.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.
    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://www.regulations.gov.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of any written 
communications and comments received into any of our dockets by the 
name of the individual submitting the document (or signing the 
document, 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; 
Page 19477) or at http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2011.
Robert C. Lauby,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Regulatory and Legislative 
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2011-2920 Filed 2-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P