Federal Railroad Administration 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hereby announces that it is seeking an extension of the following currently approved information collection activities. On March 13, 2015, FRA issued its ``Railworthiness Directive Under 49 CFR 180.509 for Railroad Tank Cars Equipped With Certain McKenzie Valve & Machining LLC Valves'' and published this Directive in the Federal Register on March 18, 2015. See 80 FR 14027. Also, on March 18, 2015, FRA published a Notice in the Federal Register requesting immediate Emergency Clearance Processing from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection associated with its Railworthiness Directive Notice No. 1. See 80 FR 14238. On March 19, 2015, OMB granted FRA's request for Emergency Clearance for its Railworthiness Directive Notice No. 1. The information collection activities associated with FRA's Railworthiness Directive Notice No. 1 received a six-month approval. FRA now seeks a regular clearance (extension of the current approval for three years) while tank car owners possessing the thousands of tank cars utilizing these problematic unapproved valves have them removed and replaced with approved valves. FRA has issued this Railworthiness Directive (Directive) to all owners of tank cars used to transport hazardous materials within the United States to ensure they identify and appropriately remove and replace these valves with approved valves consistent with Federal regulations. 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.

Recent FRA investigations identified several railroad tank cars transporting hazardous materials and leaking small quantities of product from the cars' liquid lines. FRA's investigation revealed that the liquid lines of the leaking tank cars were equipped with a certain type of 3 ball valve marketed and sold by McKenzie Valve and Machining (McKenzie) (formerly McKenzie Valve & Machining Company), an affiliate company of Union Tank Car Company (UTLX). FRA further found certain closure plugs installed on the 3 valves cause mechanical damage to the valves, which leads to the destruction of the valves' seal integrity and that the 3 valves, as well as similarly-designed 1 and 2 valves provided by this manufacturer are not approved for use on tank cars. FRA is issuing this Railworthiness Directive (Directive) to all owners of tank cars used to transport hazardous materials within the United States to ensure they identify and appropriately remove and replace these valves with approved valves consistent with Federal regulations.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 requires the development and implementation of railroad safety risk reduction programs. This NPRM proposes to implement this mandate by requiring each Class I railroad and each railroad with inadequate safety performance to develop and implement a Risk Reduction Program (RRP) to improve the safety of their operations. RRP is a comprehensive, system- oriented approach to safety that determines an operation's level of risk by identifying and analyzing applicable hazards and involves developing plans to mitigate, if not eliminate, that risk. Each RRP would be statutorily required to include a risk analysis and a technology implementation plan. An RRP would be implemented by a written RRP plan that has been submitted to FRA for review and approval. A railroad would be required to conduct an annual internal assessment of its RRP, and a railroad's RRP processes and procedures would be externally audited 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 the information collection requests (ICRs) below for clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.

This Notice announces the establishment of FRA's Emergency Relief Docket (ERD) for calendar year 2015. The designated ERD for calendar year 2015 is Docket Number FRA-2015-0001.

This final rule requires railroads that operate one or more trains through highway-rail or pathway crossings to submit information to the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory about the crossings through which they operate. These amendments, mandated by section 204 of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, require railroads to submit information about previously unreported and new highway-rail and pathway crossings to the U.S. DOT National Highway- Rail Crossing Inventory and to periodically update existing crossing data.