05-11413. 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 favour of relief.

Union Pacific Railroad Company (Docket Number FRA-2005-21179)

The Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) seeks a waiver of compliance with the Locomotive Safety Standards, 49 CFR 229.49(a)(1), as it pertains to the requirement that main reservoirs be equipped with “a safety valve that shall prevent an accumulation of pressure of more than 15 pounds per square inch above the maximum working air pressure fixed by the chief mechanical officer of the carrier operating the locomotive” and the Brake System Safety Standards, 49 CFR 232.103(o)(2), as it pertains minimum differential between brake pipe and main reservoir pressure, a minimum of 15 psi. UP seeks to set the main reservoir safety valve at 150 psi and the maximum working air pressure (brake pipe) at 125 psi.

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-2005-21179) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401, 400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. 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://dms.dot.gov.

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). The Statement may also be found at http://dms.dot.gov.

Issued in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2005.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.