[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 27, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62744-62745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-24062]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Petition for Waiver of Compliance

    In accordance with part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR), notice is hereby given that the Federal Railroad Administration 
(FRA) received a request for a waiver of compliance with certain 
requirements of its safety standards. The individual petition is 
described below, including the party seeking relief, the regulatory 
provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the 
petitioner's arguments in favor of relief.

Long Island Rail Road (Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2004-18854)

    The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) seeks a waiver of compliance from 
certain provisions of the Railroad Locomotive Safety Standards, 49 CFR 
part 229. Specifically, LIRR requests relief from the requirements of 
49 CFR 229.27(a)(2) Annual Tests and 49 CFR 229.29(a) Biennial Tests, 
applicable to a control group of five EMD DE/DM30-AC locomotives 
equipped with Computer Controlled Brake I (CCB I) type brake equipment 
furnished by New York Air Brake Corporation (NYAB) of Watertown, New 
York.
    The five locomotives designated for the control group will be Model 
EMD DE/DM30-AC, built by General Motor's Electro Motive Division (EMD), 
accepted new by LIRR in 1999, and equipped with NYAB's CCB I brake 
equipment. The LIRR currently operates a fleet of forty six (46) of 
this model type(s) and configured locomotives. The current CCB I 
periodic brake equipment maintenance intervals are 1840 days (five 
years) in accordance with the FRA Docket Number 2000-7367.
    In October 2003, CCB I, from a randomly selected locomotive at the 
end of a five-year COT&S interval, was removed and sent to New York Air 
Brake for tests and a tear-down inspection. A test report of this 
equipment was submitted to the FRA from NYAB to comply with Section 
5.1.6 of ABT-3164 as related to the CCB I product five year COT&S 2000-
7367 waiver. In summary of that report, New York Air Brake noted that 
the LIRR's CCB I air brake equipment was fully serviceable at five 
years of age.
    As a result of the NYAB report, the LIRR is seeking relief on the 
1840 day (5 year) COT&S on five locomotive described as the ``control 
group of locomotives''. The control group of locomotives will be 
utilized as a test to determine CCB I brake condition when the 
maintenance cycle is extended past five-year maintenance interval.
    The control group of five locomotives will all have their COT&S 
extended past the 1840 (5 year) COT&S with the following proposed 
schedule: one locomotive to 2208 days (6 years), two locomotives to 
2576 days (7 years), and the two remaining locomotives to 2944 days (8 
years). During the testing period for the control group, the remaining 
locomotives in the LIRR fleet will continue regularly scheduled 
periodic

[[Page 62745]]

maintenance of CCB I equipment at the established 1840-day interval.
    Part 229.27(a)(2) requires that, ``Brake cylinder relay valve 
portions, main reservoir safety valves, brake pipe vent valve portions, 
feed and reducing valve portions in the air brake system (including 
related dirt collectors and filters) shall be cleaned, repaired, and 
tested'' at intervals that do not exceed 368 calendar days. Part 
229.29(a) requires in part that ``* * * all valves, valve portions, MU 
locomotive brake cylinders and electric-pneumatic master controllers in 
the air brake system (including related dirt collectors and filters) 
shall be cleaned, repaired, and tested at intervals that do not exceed 
736 calendar days.
    LIRR requests these provisions be temporarily waived on the 
``control group of locomotives'' to allow them to conduct a long term 
test program designed to show that NYAB's electronic air brake 
technology has sufficiently improved overall system reliability and 
safety to a point where it is now possible to move toward a component 
repair as required, performance based COT&S criterion similar in scope 
to that outlined in a previous waiver granted on September 1, 2000 to 
CSX Transportation in Docket FRA-1999-6252. This referenced waiver 
covers CSXT locomotives utilizing NYAB's Computer Controlled Brake 
(CCB) equipment, with the intent of moving to a component repair as 
required, performance-based COT&S criterion.
    As part of this waiver request, LIRR recommends that a detailed 
test plan, necessary for properly tracking and documenting the results, 
be jointly developed between LIRR, NYAB, and FRA. At the completion of 
the test program, LIRR further requests that the FRA conduct a formal 
review of the results relative to the objective of moving toward a 
``performance-based COT&S'' criterion. In addition, the LIRR and NYAB 
are currently in the process of establishing test plans to specify the 
on-locomotive tests and tear-down inspection procedures for the CCB I 
components from the ``control group of locomotives''. The plans will be 
submitted to the FRA for approval when they are complete. LIRR will 
also submit to the FRA the locomotive road numbers that will be 
representative of the locomotives that will be comprised in the 
``control group of locomotives''.
    Interested parties are invited to participate in these proceedings 
by submitting written views, data, or comments. FRA does not anticipate 
scheduling a public hearing in connection with these proceedings since 
the facts do not appear to warrant a hearing. If any interested party 
desires an opportunity for oral comment, they should notify FRA, in 
writing, before the end of the comment period and specify the basis for 
their request.
    All communications concerning these proceedings should identify the 
appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-
2004-18854) and must be submitted to the Docket Clerk, DOT Docket 
Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20590. Communications received within 45 days of 
the date of this notice will be considered by FRA before final action 
is taken. Comments received after that date will be considered as far 
as practicable. All written communications concerning these proceedings 
are available for examination during regular business hours (9 a.m.-5 
p.m.) at the above facility. All documents in the public docket are 
also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at the docket 
facility's Web site at  http://dms.dot.gov.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78). The Statement 
may also be found at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2004.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-24062 Filed 10-26-04; 8:45 am]
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