Federal Railroad Administration March 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 January 17, 2007 (72 FR 2084).

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. To date, FRA has conducted four meetings and on January 5, 2007, FRA published a notice announcing the scheduling of an additional meeting to be held February 15, 2007, in Syracuse, New York. Due to inclement weather, it was necessary to reschedule the February 15 meeting for April 26, 2007. At the 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.

FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that FRA and the California High Speed Rail Authority (Authority) will jointly prepare a project level Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and project level Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the section of the Authority's proposed California High-Speed Train (HST) System from the City of Los Angeles (Union Station) to Orange County (Anaheim) in compliance with relevant State and federal laws, in particular the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 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 Authority and its representatives will be considered in the preparation of the combined EIR/EIS. The Authority and FRA completed a Program EIR/EIS for the California HST System in 2005 as the first-phase of a tiered environmental review process for the proposed California HST System. The Authority certified the Final Program EIR and issued a decision, and FRA issued a Record of Decision in November 2005 on the Final Program EIS, selecting the HST Alternative for further project level environmental review and selecting corridor alignments and potential station locations, including a corridor between Los Angeles and Orange County. The preparation of this project level Los Angeles-Orange County HST EIR/EIS will involve development of preliminary engineering designs and assessment of environmental effects associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the HST system, including track, ancillary facilities and stations, along the previously selected Los Angeles-Orange County corridor.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), this notice announces that new information collections requirements (ICRs) listed below have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). These new ICRs pertain to 49 CFR Parts 213, 216, 217, 222, 227, 229, and 238. Additionally, FRA hereby announces that other ICRs listed below have been re-approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). These ICRs pertain to Parts 207, 209, 210, 214, 215, 217, 218, 223, 225, 228, 232, 233, 234, 235, and 236. The OMB approval numbers, titles, and expiration dates are included herein under supplementary information.

FRA proposes to revise the existing requirements related to sanders on locomotives. The proposed rule would modify the existing regulations by permitting additional flexibility in the use of locomotives with inoperative sanders. The proposal would provide railroads the ability to better utilize their locomotive fleets while ensuring that locomotives are equipped with operative sanders in situations where they provide the most benefit from a safety and operational perspective. The proposed rule would also make the regulations related to operative sanders more consistent with existing Canadian standards related to the devices.