Federal Railroad Administration 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On July 27, 2006, FRA published a notice announcing its intent to conduct a series of open meetings throughout the United States, in cooperation with appropriate State agencies, to consider issues related to the safety of private highway-rail grade crossings. This notice indicated that the first of these meetings would be held August 30, 2006, in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Notice No. 2 announces that FRA has scheduled subsequent meetings to be held September 27, 2006, in Raleigh, North Carolina; October 26, 2006, in San Francisco, California; and December 6, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana. At each open meeting, FRA intends to solicit oral statements from private crossing owners, railroads and other interested parties on issues related to the safety of private highway-rail grade crossings, which will include, but will not be limited to, current practices concerning the responsibility for safety at private grade crossings, the adequacy of warning devices at private crossings, and the relative merits of a more uniform approach to improving safety at private crossings. FRA has also opened a public docket on these issues so that interested parties may submit written comments for public review and consideration.

FRA announces the next meeting of the RSAC, a Federal Advisory Committee that develops railroad safety regulations through a consensus process. The RSAC meeting topics include opening remarks from the FRA Administrator, the private crossing safety inquiry, electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, a summary of the Collision Analysis Working Group Final Report, an update on Remote Control Locomotive training efforts, and a status report on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Railroad Operating Rules. Status reports will be given on the Passenger Safety, Roadway Worker, Continuous Welded Rail, and Locomotive Standards working groups. The Committee may possibly be asked to vote to accept a task on medical standards. This agenda is subject to change, and may include briefings on railroad security and other issues.

This NPRM is intended to further the safety of passenger train occupants through both enhancements and additions to FRA's existing requirements for emergency systems on passenger trains. In this NPRM, FRA proposes to enhance existing requirements for emergency window exits and to establish requirements for rescue access windows to evacuate passenger train occupants. FRA also proposes to enhance passenger train emergency system requirements by expanding the application of requirements that are currently applicable only to passenger trains operating at speeds in excess of 125 mph (Tier II passenger trains) to passenger trains operating at speeds at or below 125 mph (Tier I passenger trains); these proposed enhancements would require that Tier I passenger trains be equipped with public address and intercom systems for emergency communication and that passenger cars provide emergency roof access for use by emergency responders. FRA is proposing to apply certain of the requirements to both existing and new passenger equipment, while other requirements would apply to new passenger equipment only.

FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public and interested agencies that FRA has decided to adopt the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) issued by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for construction and operation of a new rail line and related improvements by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Corporation (DM&E). Under applicable regulations, FRA is allowed to adopt and recirculate the STB's Final EIS and Final SEIS as its own, since FRA's proposed action is substantially the same as the action covered by the STB's EISs. The FRA further announces the availability of a draft Section 4(f)/303 Statement prepared for the Project by the FRA pursuant to Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. Sec. 303(c)). The draft Section 4(f)/303 Statement and STB's EISs are available and comments may be submitted as indicated below. This project, known as the Powder River Basin Expansion Project (Project), would involve construction of approximately 280 miles of new rail line to reach the coal mines of Wyoming's Powder River Basin and reconstruction of another approximately 600 miles of DM&E's existing rail line that would allow operation of unit coal trains along the reconstructed route to and from the new line. The Project takes place in the States of Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The DM&E has applied to the FRA for a $2.3 billion loan under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program to finance the Project.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hereby announces that it is seeking renewal of the following currently approved information collection activities. Before submitting these information collection requirements for clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICRs describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on May 15, 2006 (71 FR 28076).

FRA announces its intent to conduct a series of open meetings throughout the United States, in cooperation with appropriate State agencies, to consider issues related to the safety of private highway- rail grade crossings. At each open meeting, FRA intends to solicit oral statements from private crossing owners, railroads and other interested parties on issues related to the safety of private highway-rail grade crossings, which will include, but not be limited to, current practices concerning responsibility for safety at private grade crossings, the adequacy of warning devices at private crossings, and the relative merits of a more uniform approach to improving safety at private crossings. FRA has also opened a public docket on these issues, so that interested parties may submit written comments for public review and consideration.

The FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for the proposed DesertXpress high-speed train project. The project includes passenger stations, a maintenance facility, and a new railroad line along the I- 15 corridor between Victorville, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. FRA is issuing this notice to solicit public and agency input into the development of the scope of the EIS and to advise the public that outreach activities conducted by the FRA will be considered in the preparation of the EIS. Federal cooperating agencies for the EIS are the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Alternatives to be evaluated and analyzed in the EIS include (1) take no action (No-Project or No-Build); and, (2) construction of a privately financed steel-wheel-on-steel-rail high-speed train, including a proposed station in Victorville and a station in Las Vegas, and a maintenance facility in Victorville. Several alternative routings would be considered in the EIS.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is issuing this notice to advise the public that FRA will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the relocation or reconstruction of railroad lines in the Tupelo, Mississippi central business district. The study area is defined to extend from the vicinity of Plantersville, MS, southeast of Tupelo, to the vicinity of Sherman, northwest of Tupelo. Tupelo is the primary business center of northeast Mississippi. Currently, within the central business district there are more than 25 at-grade rail crossings on two railroad lines. One of the rail lines is owned by the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) and the other by the Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS). The two rail lines cross at an interchange near downtown Tupelo. There are between twenty and twenty- five trains per day on the BNSF line, and three or four per day on the KCS line. There are few rail customers remaining in the central business district, and most of the trains are through trains operating in the Birmingham, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee corridor. Traffic congestion is already a significant problem in the central business district, and the current rail line configuration is a contributing cause to this congestion. The switchyard between the two lines is within the central business district, and the BNSF line runs diagonally through the highest volume intersection in the city. Tupelo's employment has been growing at a steady pace of about 1,000 jobs per year for the last few years, which only increases vehicular traffic to the area and further exacerbates the situation. Moreover, issues with access to emergency facilities exist in that many Tupelo residents may be cut off from the regional medical center due to delays caused by the rail line and switching station. The FRA has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), with FRA as the lead Federal agency and MDOT as the lead state agency. Funding for the EIS was provided through an appropriation in the Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004, Public Law 108-199 (January 23, 2004).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICRs describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on April 7, 2006 (71 FR 17945).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirement (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on March 31, 2006 (71 FR 16412).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hereby announces that it is seeking renewal of the following currently approved information collection activities. Before submitting these information collection requirements for clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.