[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 2, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76411-76412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26414]


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

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket Number FRA 2016-0002-N-22]


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its 
implementing regulations, FRA seeks the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) approval of the proposed information collection 
activities abstracted below. However, before submitting this proposed 
information collection request (ICR) to OMB for clearance, FRA is 
soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities 
identified below.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than January 3, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on any or all of the information 
activities described in this notice by mail to either Ms. Rachel Grice, 
Engineering Psychologist or Michael Jones, Engineering Psychologist, 
Office of Railroad Policy and Development, Human Factors Division, RPD-
34, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Mail Stop 20, Washington, DC 
20590; or Ms. Kimberly Toone, Information Collection Clearance Officer, 
Office of Information Technology, RAD-20, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 20590. Commenters requesting that FRA 
acknowledge receipt of their respective comments must include a self-
addressed stamped postcard stating, ``Comments on OMB Control Number 
2130-New,'' and should also include the title of the collection of 
information. Alternatively, comments may be faxed to (202) 493-6172 or 
(202) 493-6630, or emailed to [email protected], 
[email protected], or [email protected]. Please refer to the 
assigned OMB control number in any correspondence submitted. FRA will 
summarize comments received in response to this notice in a subsequent 
notice and include them in its information collection submission to OMB 
for approval.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Rachel Grice at (202) 493-8005, or 
Mr. Michael Jones at 202-493-6106 or Ms. Kimberly Toone, at (202) 493-
6132. These telephone numbers are not toll-free.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, and its 
implementing regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, Rulemaking Procedures, 
require Federal agencies to provide 60 days' notice to the public for 
comment on information collection activities before seeking OMB 
approval. See 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), 
1320.10(e)(1), and 1320.12(a). Specifically, FRA invites interested 
respondents to comment on the following summary of proposed information 
collection activities regarding: (1) Whether the information collection 
activities are necessary for FRA to properly execute its functions, 
including whether the activities will have practical utility; (2) the 
accuracy of FRA's estimates of the burden of the information collection 
activities, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used to determine the estimates; (3) ways FRA can enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information being collected; and (4) ways 
FRA can minimize the burden of information collection activities on the 
public by automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology (e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses). See 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1).
    FRA believes soliciting public comment will promote its efforts to 
reduce the administrative and paperwork burdens associated with the 
collection of information Federal regulations mandate, including: (1) 
Reducing reporting burdens; (2) organizing information collection 
requirements in a ``user friendly'' format to improve the use of such 
information; and (3) accurately assessing the resources expended to 
retrieve and produce information requested. See 44 U.S.C. 3501.
    Below is a brief summary of the proposed ICR that FRA will submit 
for OMB approval as required under the PRA:
    Title: Cab Technology Integration Lab (CTIL) Head-up Display 
Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-New.
    Abstract: FRA is proposing a study which will focus on railroad 
engineer performance. Distraction is a common problem in locomotive 
cabs and preliminary research suggests that the dispatch radio may have 
significant effects on crew workload and performance. Anecdotal 
evidence from four train engineers indicates that the radio is the most 
distracting technology in the cab. There are generally two categories 
of dispatcher-engineer communications. Some require immediate action 
and should be provided in the usual manner (over the radio). However, 
others do not require immediate action and could be provided as a 
written message.
    FRA seeks to develop an understanding of how the dispatch radio 
communications could potentially lead to human-performance degradation 
in the railroad engineer, and if a Head-Up Display (HUD) would be an 
alternative and superior technology to communicating information 
usually conveyed over the dispatch radio.

[[Page 76412]]

    HUDs have been incorporated and researched extensively in aviation 
and motor vehicle applications because of their relative advantage over 
head-down displays (HDDs). Research in the Cab Technology Integration 
Lab (CTIL), FRA's locomotive simulator at the Volpe Center in 
Cambridge, MA, has shown that in-cab displays, such as moving maps, can 
lead to prolonged heads-down time (Young, et al., 2015). Additionally, 
research done in the field in naturalistic studies using passenger 
vehicles has also shown that looking inside a vehicle for interface 
control features increases the risk of an accident (Liang, Lee, & 
Yekhsatyan, 2012). Thus, a HUD has real advantages over an HDD. An 
investigation of alternative technologies that increase forward-track 
viewing time is worth pursuing.
    To test the hypothesis that display communications on a HUD can 
reduce workload and distractions while increasing the time the engineer 
keeps his or her eyes on the forward track, an experiment will be run 
in the CTIL with four different conditions: HUD presence (present or 
absent) will be crossed with radio communications (present or absent). 
Forty train engineers will participate in the simulator study and 
survey data collection. The HUD will be developed and installed by the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    A subjective measure of workload, such as the NASA TLX, will be 
utilized in this study and provided to the train engineers after the 
simulator experiment. In addition, usability of the system will be 
rated with a usability scale by the train engineers. Analysis of the 
simulator data, workload data, and usability survey data will allow FRA 
to assess whether the HUD has a relative advantage over the HDD in 
rail, and if it could mitigate performance declines related to the 
radio communications.
    Affected Public: Railroad Workers.
    Respondent Universe: 40 Railroad Engineers.
    Frequency of Submission: On occasion.

                                                Reporting Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                 Average  time
             Form No.               Respondent  universe      Total  annual       per response    Total  annual
                                                                responses           (hours)       burden  hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Form FRA F 6180.168--Simulator      40 Engineers........  40 surveys..........             6.5              260
 Survey.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total Responses: 40.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 260 hours.
    Type of Request: Approval of a new information collection.
    Status: Regular Review.
    Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b) and 1320.8(b)(3)(vi), 
FRA informs all interested parties that FRA may not conduct or sponsor, 
and a respondent is not required to respond to, a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

    Authority:  44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 26, 2016.
Patrick Warren,
Acting Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-26414 Filed 11-1-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P