05-18484. 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.

Strategic Transportation Services

Strategic Transportation Services, on behalf of EXEL Switching Services, seeks a waiver of compliance with the Safety Glazing Standards 49 CFR 223.9(a), which requires Locomotives, including yard locomotives, built or rebuilt after June 30, 1980, must be equipped with certified glazing in all locomotive cab windows, and with the requirements of the Safety Appliance Standards 49 CFR 231.3(c)(1) & (c)(4), which requires Each locomotive used in switching service must have four (4) switching steps & Switching steps must be supported by a bracket at each end and fastened to the bracket by two bolts or rivets of at least one-half (1/2) inch diameter or by a weldment of at least twice the strength of a bolted attachment. Strategic Transportation Services requests the waiver for a “Rail King” mobile railcar mover that they intend to utilize to switch railcars inside the Exel facility, business park, in Houston, TX. The Rail King mobile railcar mover described in the waiver request is not equipped with FRA Type I & II certified glazing material and only has two switching steps that are attached to the vehicle by weldment.

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-2005-21961) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room Pl-401, 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 September 12, 2005.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development.