E8-26665. Petition for Waiver of Compliance

In accordance with Part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), notice is hereby given that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) received a request for a waiver of compliance with certain requirements of its safety standards. The individual petition is described below, including the party seeking relief, the regulatory provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the petitioner's arguments in favor of relief.

Metro-North Railroad

The Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North) seeks a permanent waiver of compliance from certain specific requirements in the testing protocol of the Locomotive Safety Standards, 49 CFR 229.129(c), as it pertains to railroad locomotive horn testing. Metro-North seeks to utilize an acoustic enclosure specially designed for the purpose of testing horns removed from the locomotives in lieu of the requirements required in CFR § 229.129(c)(4), (5) and (7). The data from the acoustic enclosure testing would be used to calculate the level to be expected at the location 100 feet in front of the locomotive as required under CFR § 229.129(c)(7).

Metro-North has requested the Acoustical Society of America to work towards a new ANSI standard that supports the approach proposed by Metro-North. Metro-North further proposes to fund the design, fabrication and pilot testing of the testing facility proposed if this waiver application is granted on a conditional basis. In addition to the requested waiver of the technical requirements described above, Metro-North is also requesting an extension of five (5) years to June 24, 2015, in which to complete the required testing of its approximately 762 train horns.

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 (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2007-0006) and may be submitted by any of the following methods:

• Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: [phone].
• 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 within 45 days of the date of this notice will be considered by FRA before final action is taken. Comments received after that date will be considered as far as practicable. All written communications concerning these proceedings are available for examination during regular business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) at the above facility. All documents in the public docket are also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at the docket facility's Web site at http://www.regulations.gov.

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 comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78).

Issued in Washington, DC on November 3, 2008.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.