Federal Railroad Administration April 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under title 49 Code of Federal Regulations, Use of Locomotive Horns at Public Highway-Rail Grade Crossings, FRA is updating the Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold (NSRT). This action is needed to ensure the public has the proper permissible risk threshold to evaluate risk resulting from prohibiting routine locomotive horn sounding at highway-rail grade crossings located in quiet zones. This is the seventh update to the NSRT and it is increasing from 14,347 to 14,723.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice announces FRA is forwarding for renewal the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the information collection and its expected burden. On December 21, 2016, FRA published a notice providing a 60-day period for public comment on the ICR.

On July 1, 2016, FRA published two interim final rules to comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. FRA received no comments in response to the interim final rules. This document confirms the July 1, 2016, interim final rules will not be changed and the effective date is August 1, 2016.

To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA is adjusting the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority. FRA is also adjusting the minimum penalty, ordinary maximum penalty, and aggravated maximum penalty that it will apply when assessing a civil monetary penalty for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation laws or a regulation, special permit, order, or approval issued under those laws. The aggravated maximum penalty under the hazardous material transportation laws is available only for a violation that results in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of property.