E7-16404. 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) has received a request for a waiver of compliance from certain requirements of its safety standards. The individual petition is described below, including the party seeking relief, the statutory provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the petitioner's arguments in favor of relief.

Central Montana Rail, Inc.

Central Montana Rail, Inc. (CMR) has petitioned for an extension of its temporary waiver of compliance from the requirements of Title 49 U.S.C. 21103(a), the Federal hours of service law (HSL), for train employees. This provision states that the railroad may neither require nor allow train employees to begin or remain on duty in excess of 12 hours in a 24-hour period without receiving the appropriate 8- or 10-hour statutory off-duty period. However, the HSL contains a provision (49 U.S.C. 21102(b)) that permits a railroad to seek an exemption from the 12-hour limitation if it employs no more than 15 employees subject to the statute. CMR states that it is the railroad's intent to use such a waiver only in unusual circumstances dictated by geographic remoteness, weather, or traffic peaks, and the waiver is not to be used on a daily basis.

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-2001-10948) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket Management Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.

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), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 14, 2007.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.