[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 91 (Tuesday, May 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 20340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08400]


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

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket Number FRA-2025-0035]


Notice of Petition for Waiver of Compliance

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

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: This document provides the public notice that New Hope and 
Ivyland Railroad (NHRR) petitioned FRA for relief from certain 
regulations concerning steam locomotive inspections.

DATES: FRA must receive comments on the petition by June 12, 2025. FRA 
will consider comments received after that date to the extent 
practicable.

ADDRESSES: 
    Comments: Comments related to this docket may be submitted by going 
to https://www.regulations.gov and following the online instructions 
for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number. All comments received will be posted without change to 
https://www.regulations.gov; this includes any personal information. 
Please see the Privacy Act heading in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document for Privacy Act information related to any 
submitted comments or materials.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Barron, Railroad Safety 
Specialist, FRA Motive Power & Equipment Division, telephone: 202-366-
7117, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under part 211 of title 49 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR), this document provides the public notice that by 
letter received March 3, 2025, NHRR petitioned FRA for a waiver of 
compliance from certain provisions of the Federal railroad safety 
regulations contained at 49 CFR part 230 (Steam Locomotive Inspection 
and Maintenance Standards). FRA assigned the petition Docket Number 
FRA-2025-0035.
    Specifically, NHRR seeks relief from Sec.  230.17(a), One thousand 
four hundred seventy-two (1,472) service day inspection, which requires 
a steam locomotive's ``entire boiler'' to be inspected after 1,472 
service days or 15 years, whichever is earlier. NHRR, a tourist 
railroad, seeks to extend for twenty calendar days the deadline for its 
15-year inspection, from December 7, 2026, to December 27, 2026, which 
would allow locomotive NHRR 40 to operate Santa Trains through the end 
of the 2026 holiday season. In its petition, NHRR explains that the 
twenty-day extension is a ``period critical to [NHRR's] financial 
stability'' and that the absence of NHRR 40 would be ``detrimental to 
[its] operations.'' The requested deadline extension, which would 
include 18 planned service days, would enable NHRR to fund the expense 
of the 15-year inspection, which would be completed after December 27, 
2026, and before the next planned operation in 2027.
    A copy of the petition, as well as any written communications 
concerning the petition, is available for review online at 
www.regulations.gov.
    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 and a public hearing, they 
should notify FRA, in writing, before the end of the comment period and 
specify the basis for their request.
    Communications received by June 12, 2025 will be considered by FRA 
before final action is taken. Comments received after that date will be 
considered if practicable.

Privacy Act

    Anyone can search the electronic form of any written communications 
and comments received into any of FRA's 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.). 
Under 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the public to inform 
its processes. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any 
personal information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 
described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can 
be reviewed at https://www.transportation.gov/privacy. See also https://www.regulations.gov/privacy-notice for the privacy notice of 
regulations.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
John Karl Alexy,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, Chief Safety Officer.
[FR Doc. 2025-08400 Filed 5-12-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P