E6-12805. Notice of Application for Approval of Discontinuance or Modification of a Railroad Signal System or Relief From Requirements

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 Number: FRA-2006-25083.

Applicant: Union Pacific Railroad, Mr. John C. Estes, Jr., Superintendent Locomotive, 1400 Douglas Stop 1050, Omaha, Nebraska 68179.

The Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) seeks relief from the requirements of the Rules, Standards and Instructions, Title 49 CFR, part 236, Section 236.588, Periodic test. Specifically, UP is seeking to change the requirement as defined in the Technical Manual for Signal and Train Control Rules which requires disassembly of the receiver bar junction box during periodic inspection.

Applicant's justification for relief: Harmon, the manufacturer of UP's Ultra Cab II equipment does not recommend the removal of the junction box cover, except for replacement of the cab signal discriminators (receiver bars). Electrical qualification and integrity tests are conducted from the LCU ( Logic Control Unit) located in the locomotive cab area. Harmon and UP believe that removing the junction box cover during periodic inspections will, over time, degrade the integrity of the junction box and reduce overall reliability of the Harmon Ultra Cab II equipment.

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 PI-401, 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 August 1, 2006.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.