03-30103. Notice of Application for Approval of Discontinuance or Modification of a Railroad Signal System or Relief From the Requirements of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 236

Pursuant to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 235 and 49 U.S.C. 20502(a), the following railroad has petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) seeking approval for the discontinuance or modification of the signal system or relief from the requirements of 49 CFR part 236 as detailed below.

Docket No. FRA-2003-16441

Applicant: Norfolk Southern Corporation, Mr. Brian L. Sykes, Chief Engineer, C&S Engineering, 99 Spring Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

Norfolk Southern Corporation seeks approval of the proposed discontinuance and removal of the automatic permissive block (APB) signal system, on all main, siding, and auxiliary tracks, between Naples, milepost W-14.7 and Tuxedo, milepost W-26.0, in North Carolina, and between Landrum, milepost W-45.0 and Inman, milepost W-56.1, in South Carolina, on the Piedmont Division, Asheville to Charleston District. The proposed changes include conversion of the method of operation to track warrant control in the area where the APB system is removed, and retention of the APB system between mileposts W-0.0 and W-14.7 and mileposts W-56.1 and W-65.1, on each end of the line segment.

The reason given for the proposed changes is that the line between Asheville, and Spartanburg is no longer needed as a through route. The Asheville to Tuxedo portion on the west end will be used for local service and CPL coal trains, while the Landrum to Spartanburg portion on the east end will be used for local service only.

Any interested party desiring to protest the granting of an application shall set forth specifically the grounds upon which the protest is made, and include a concise statement of the interest of the party in the proceeding. Additionally, one copy of the protest shall be furnished to the applicant at the address listed above.

All communications concerning this proceeding should be identified by the docket number and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Communications received within 45 days of the date of this notice will be considered by the 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://dms.dot.gov.

FRA wishes to inform all potential commenters that anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 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) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FRA expects to be able to determine these matters without an oral hearing. However, if a specific request for an oral hearing is accompanied by a showing that the party is unable to adequately present his or her position by written statements, an application may be set for public hearing.

Issued in Washington, DC on November 26, 2003.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.