Federal Railroad Administration 2007 – 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. 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.

FRA is notifying the public that waivers granted relative to the provisions of 49 CFR Part 229, Railroad Locomotive Safety Standards, may be affected by potential revisions to the regulation. FRA is requesting that grantees (primarily railroads) submit current waivers for consideration in light of potential revisions to the regulation, and is establishing a docket to collect the waivers along with other documents generated by the Locomotive Safety Standards Working Group (LSSWG) as part of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) process. Note that this request pertains to waivers from the provisions of 49 CFR Part 229 only, and not to waivers of any other of the regulations administered by FRA.

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.

FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2007-02 in order to provide interested parties guidance on the proper application of existing statutory and regulatory requirements concerning self-propelled specialized maintenance equipment. This document also strongly recommends that owners and operators of such equipment properly inspect the equipment and ensure that properly qualified individuals are operating and piloting the equipment while in transit.

FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2007-01, which addresses the safety of shoving or pushing movements in yards, including those involving remote control locomotives. This advisory also addresses the behavior of employees on or about tracks.

Using data from Management Information System annual reports, FRA has determined that the 2005 rail industry random testing positive rates were 0.73 percent for drugs and 0.17 percent for alcohol. Because the industry-wide random drug testing positive rate has remained below 1.0 percent for the last two years, the Federal Railroad Administrator (Administrator) has determined that the minimum annual random drug testing rate for the period January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007, will remain at 25 percent of covered railroad employees. In addition, because the industry-wide random alcohol testing violation rate has remained below 0.5 percent for the last two years, the Administrator has determined that the minimum random alcohol testing rate will remain at 10 percent of covered railroad employees for the period January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007.

FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2006-06, in order to provide interested parties information related to the potential failure (cracking and breakage) of the center sills on 89-foot flat cars carrying containers in municipal solid waste (MSW) service.