[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 83 (Tuesday, April 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 25347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10070]



[[Page 25347]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket Number FRA-2013-0030]


Petition for Waiver of Compliance

    In accordance with Part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR), this document provides the public notice that by a document 
dated February 14, 2013, the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) and the Union 
Pacific Railroad (UP) have jointly petitioned the Federal Railroad 
Administration (FRA) for a waiver of compliance from certain provisions 
of the Federal railroad safety regulations contained at 49 CFR Part 
232, Brake System Safety Standards for Freight and Other Non-Passenger 
Trains and Equipment; End-of-Train Devices. FRA assigned the petition 
Docket Number FRA-2013-0030.
    Specifically, BNSF and UP seek a waiver of compliance from 49 CFR 
232.305(b)(2) for railroad cars tested with automatic single car test 
devices (ASCTD). The current rule stipulates that if a car is on a shop 
or repair track for any reason and has not had a single car air brake 
test within the previous 12-month period, a single car air brake test 
must be performed. In their petition, UP and BNSF state that when this 
requirement became effective, the new ASCTDs were not in widespread 
use. BNSF and UP further state that sufficient time has passed, and 
enough industry experience has been gained, to establish the advance in 
testing technology that the ASCTD has over the old manual device. 
Comparisons of the manual versus the automated testers made by BNSF and 
UP show an improvement of 11.5 percent in solving air brake-related 
issues. BNSF and UP submitted additional data to support their waiver 
petition, which has been placed in the subject docket.
    BNSF and UP request that relief be granted to railroad cars tested 
within the previous 2 years, if shopped for any non-air brake-related 
reason on a shop or repair track, as set forth in 49 CFR 232.305(b). 
BNSF and UP propose a test waiver where all cars tested with the ASCTDs 
will be tracked through the Association of American Railroads' billing 
records for repeat air brake repairs within the 2-year period from the 
last single car air brake test performed with an ASCTD. Additionally, 
BNSF and UP will scan data from the wheel impact load and hot/cold 
wheel detector reports to see if the test cars develop any detector 
exceptions within the 2-year time period from the last single car air 
brake test performed with an ASCTD. BNSF and UP suggest that every 6 
months, FRA, BNSF, and UP should hold a conference to review the data. 
BNSF and UP believe that data from this test waiver will demonstrate 
the effectiveness of the ASCTDs.
    A copy of the petition, as well as any written communications 
concerning the petition, is available for review online at 
www.regulations.gov and in person at the U.S. Department of 
Transportation's Docket Operations Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE., W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Operations Facility is 
open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.
    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 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 by June 14, 2013 will be considered by FRA 
before final action is taken. Comments received after that date will be 
considered as far as practicable.
    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 comment (or signing the document, 
if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
See http://www.regulations.gov/#!privacyNotice for the privacy notice 
of regulations.gov or interested parties may review DOT's complete 
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 
2000 (65 FR 19477).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2013.
Robert C. Lauby,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Regulatory and Legislative 
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2013-10070 Filed 4-29-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P