[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 214 (Monday, November 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55449-55450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24111]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA-2018-0091]


Approval of BNSF Railway Company Test Program To Evaluate 
Automated Track Inspection Technologies

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

ACTION: Notice of approval.

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SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to explain its rationale for 
approving a BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) Test Program designed to 
evaluate the effectiveness of various types of automated track 
inspection technologies and for granting a limited, temporary 
suspension of one Federal railroad safety requirement necessary to 
facilitate the conduct of the Test Program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yu-Jiang Zhang, Staff Director, Track 
Division, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 
Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-6460 or email 
[email protected]; Aaron Moore, Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, 
FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 
493-7009 or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 31, 2018, BNSF petitioned FRA under 
Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 211.51 to suspend 
certain requirements of its track safety regulations to conduct a pilot 
program testing various types of automated track inspection 
methodologies on identified portions of BNSF's Powder River Division 
main line and siding tracks. BNSF also submitted a Test Program 
providing a description of the proposed pilot program and the 
geographic scope of the testing territory. After review and analysis of 
the Petition and Test Program, on September 26, 2018, subject to 
certain conditions designed to ensure safety, FRA approved BNSF's Test 
Program and suspended the requirements of 49 CFR 213.233(c) as 
necessary to carry out the Test Program.\1\ As required by 49 CFR 
211.51(c), FRA is providing this explanatory statement describing the 
Test Program.
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    \1\ On October 24, 2018, in response to a request from BNSF, FRA 
modified the conditions of its September 26, 2018 approval.
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    The Test Program specifies that the pilot program will be conducted 
on approximately 1,348 miles of main and siding tracks from Lincoln, 
Nebraska and Donkey Creek, Wyoming and back to Lincoln, Nebraska via 
BNSF's coal loop excluding the Orin Subdivision. Specifically, the Test 
Territory includes the following track segments spanning seven 
subdivisions of BNSF's Powder River Subdivision:
    1. Ravenna (Milepost (MP) 11.082 to MP 128.200);
    2. Sand Hills (MP 128.2 to MP 364.1);
    3. Butte (MP 364.1 to MP 476.1);
    4. Black Hills (MP 476.1 to MP 586.286);
    5. Canyon (MP 90.4 to MP 133.2);
    6. Valley (MP 0.00 to 90.4); and
    7. Angora (MP 33.826 to MP 0.3).
    The Test Program explains that tonnage over the Test Territory 
varies by subdivision from 105 million gross tons (MGT) to 198 MGT and 
that the primary traffic over the Test Territory is coal traffic. 
Further, BNSF indicates that 55 percent of the ties in the Test 
Territory are concrete and 45 percent are wood, with 520 control 
points, 292 bridges and 598 turnouts included within the territory.
    The Test Program is designed to test the use of manned and unmanned 
track geometry cars for track inspection as a viable alternative to 
manual visual inspections and to implement and test an optical visual 
platform to supplement manual visual inspections. The Test Program will 
be carried out in four separate phases over the course of one year as 
detailed in Table 1 below:

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           Phase                       Days                      Inspection                     Metric
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1.........................  1-60......................   Maintain current    Below 2014 baseline for:
                                                         manual visual inspection    1. Unprotected Red tags/100
                                                         frequency.                   miles = 6.95.
                                                         Target of
                                                         approximately weekly
                                                         geometry car frequency.
                                                         Joint BNSF/FRA
                                                         ``baseline'' manual field
                                                         inspection.
2.........................  61-120....................   Weekly mandated     Reduction from baseline:
                                                         manual visual main line     1. Unprotected Red tags/100
                                                         inspections; monthly         miles = 5.0 or below
                                                         sidings.                     measured quarterly (28%
                                                         Target of            reduction).
                                                         approximately weekly
                                                         mainline geometry car
                                                         frequency; monthly sidings.
                                                         ATIP Inspection
                                                         near end of phase 2.

[[Page 55450]]

 
3.........................  121-300...................   Data-driven         Reduction from baseline:
                                                         focused manual visual       1. Unprotected Red tags/100
                                                         inspections.                 miles = 4.8 or below
                                                         Twice monthly        measured quarterly (31%
                                                         mandated manual visual       reduction).
                                                         mainline inspections;
                                                         monthly sidings.
                                                         Data driven
                                                         geometry car frequency,
                                                         with a minimum of two such
                                                         tests per month.
                                                         Automated Optical
                                                         inspection platform added
                                                         at same frequency of track
                                                         geometry testing.
                                                         ATIP Test end of
                                                         phase 3.
4.........................  301-365...................   Data-driven         Reduction from baseline:
                                                         focused manual visual       1. Unprotected Red tags/100
                                                         inspections.                 miles = 4.6 or below
                                                         Twice monthly        measured quarterly (34%
                                                         manual visual mainline       reduction).
                                                         inspections; monthly
                                                         sidings.
                                                         Data driven
                                                         geometry car testing
                                                         frequency, with a minimum
                                                         of two such tests per
                                                         month.
                                                         Data driven
                                                         optical testing frequency,
                                                         with a minimum of two such
                                                         tests per month.
                                                         Additional
                                                         technology tested.
                                                         Joint BNSF/FRA
                                                         Manual Field Inspection.
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Table 1: Phases of Test Program.

    FRA approved the Test Program and granted BNSF's petition for a 
temporary suspension of 49 CFR 213.233(c) subject to certain conditions 
designed to ensure the safety of the Test Program. Among those 
conditions, BNSF must demonstrate to FRA how it will implement the 
``data driven focused manual visual inspections'' in Phases 3 and 4 of 
the Test Program and the railroad must meet the metrics specified in 
the Test Program to monitor and measure the effectiveness of the 
technologies being tested. If those metrics cannot be met in any phase 
of the program, BNSF must revise the Test Program. A copy of FRA's 
letters approving BNSF's Test Program and granting the requested 
limited, temporary suspension of 49 CFR 213.233(c) is available in the 
public docket at www.regulations.gov (docket no. FRA-2018-0091).
    FRA finds that the temporary, limited suspension of 49 CFR 
213.233(c) is necessary to the conduct of the approved Test Program 
which is specifically designed to evaluate the effectiveness of various 
types of automated track inspection technologies. FRA also finds that 
the scope and application of the granted suspension of 49 CFR 
213.233(c) as applied to the Test Program is limited to that necessary 
to facilitate the conduct of the Test Program.

Robert C. Lauby,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety Chief Safety Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-24111 Filed 11-2-18; 8:45 am]
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