§ 218.135 - Special approval procedure.

§ 218.135 Special approval procedure.

(a) Petition. Each railroad submitting a petition under § 218.131 shall send the petition by email to [e-mail]. FRA will make the petition publicly available at https://www.regulations.gov.

(b) Federal Register notice. FRA will publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning each petition under § 218.131.

(c) Comment. Not later than 60 days from the date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register under paragraph (b) of this section, any person may comment on the petition.

(1) Each comment shall provide all relevant information and data in support of the commenter's position.

(2) Each comment shall be submitted to FRA through https://www.regulations.gov to the docket identified in the Federal Register notice.

(d) Disposition of petitions.

(1) If the Administrator finds it necessary or desirable, FRA will conduct a hearing on a petition in accordance with its rules of practice in part 211 of this chapter.

(2) A petition must not be implemented until approved. If FRA finds that the petition complies with the requirements of § 218.131 and that approving the petition is as safe or safer than a two-person minimum train crew operation, FRA will grant the petition, normally within 120 days of its receipt. If the petition is neither granted nor denied within 120 days, the petition remains pending for decision. FRA may attach special conditions to the approval of the petition. Following the approval of a petition, FRA may reopen consideration of the petition for cause stated.

(3) If FRA finds that a petition does not comply with the requirements of this subpart or that approving the petition would not be as safe or safer than a two-person minimum train crew operation, FRA will deny the petition, normally within 120 days of its receipt.

(4) When FRA decides a petition, reopens consideration of a petition, or closes a reopened petition, FRA will send written notice of the decision to the petitioner and publish that decision in the docket.

(e) Modifications.

(1) A railroad that intends to materially modify an operation subject to an FRA approval under this section shall submit a description of how it intends to modify the operation, along with either a new or an updated risk assessment accounting for the identified proposed modifications. The new or updated risk assessment must meet the requirements of § 218.133 and be submitted by email to [e-mail] at least 60 days before the date proposed to implement any such modification. For the purposes of this paragraph (e), a material modification is a change:

(i) To a railroad's operations, infrastructure, locomotive control technology, or risk mitigation technology, that may affect the safety of the operation;

(ii) That would affect the assumptions underlying the risk assessment on which an FRA approval under this section is based; or

(iii) That would affect the assumptions underlying the risk assessment's risk calculations or mitigations on which an FRA approval under this section is based.

(2) When FRA decides on a material modification to a petition, FRA will send written notice of the decision to the petitioner and publish that decision in the same docket created for the petition in paragraph (a) of this section. FRA may reopen consideration of a petition based on a material modification, deny the material modification, or grant the material modification with or without special conditions to the approval. A material modification must not be implemented until approved. If the material modification submission is neither granted nor denied within 60 days, the petition remains pending for decision.