14850 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 60 / Thursday, March 29, 2007 / Notices 

Petition Docket Number 2007–27413) 

and must be submitted to the Docket 

Clerk, DOT Docket Management 

Facility, Room PL–401 (Plaza Level), 

400 7th 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 March 23, 

2007. 

Grady C. Cothen, Jr., 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

Standards and Program Development. 

[FR Doc. E7–5747 Filed 3–28–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA 1999–6439, Notice No. 18] 

Adjustment of Nationwide Significant 

Risk Threshold 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of Adjustment of the 

Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with 49 CFR 

part 222, appendix D, FRA is updating 

the Nationwide Significant Risk 

Threshold (NSRT). This action is 

needed to ensure that the public has the 

proper threshold of permissible risk for 

calculating quiet zones established in 

relationship to the NSRT. This is the 

first update to the NSRT since the final 

rule entitled ‘‘Use of Locomotive Horns 

at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings’’ was 

published on April 27, 2005 (70 FR 

21844). This notice increases the 

Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold 

(NSRT) from 17,030 to 19,047. 

DATES: The effective date is March 29, 

2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ronald Ries, Office of Safety, RRS–25, 

Mail Stop 17, FRA, 1120 Vermont Ave., 

NW., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 

202–493–6299 or e-mail 

Ronald.Ries@dot.gov); or Ann Landis, 

Trial Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, 

RCC–10, Mail Stop 10, FRA, 1120 

Vermont Ave., NW., Washington, DC 

20590 (telephone 202–493–6064 or email Ann.Landis@dot.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background 

The NSRT is simply an average of the 

risk indexes for all of the gated crossings 

nationwide where train horns are 

routinely sounded. When communities 

are determining whether a specific 

crossing corridor can qualify as a quiet 

zone pursuant to 49 CFR part 222, the 

NSRT is used for comparison to the 

Quiet Zone Risk Index calculated for 

that specific crossing corridor to 

determine if that crossing corridor’s 

Quiet Zone Risk Index falls above or 

below the nationwide average. In 2005, 

when the final rule entitled ‘‘Use of 

Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail 

Grade Crossings’’ was published, FRA 

calculated the NSRT to be 17,030 (an 

increase from 15,424 as published in the 

interim final rule (68 FR 70586, 

December 18, 2003)) (70 FR 21844, 

April 27, 2005). In the final rule, FRA 

indicated that the NSRT would be 

updated annually. This is the first 

update to the NSRT since the final rule 

was published on April 27, 2005. 

New NSRT 

Almost two years have passed since 

the NSRT was last updated. (70 FR 

21844, April 27, 2005). Consequently, 

FRA has recalculated the threshold 

based on the formulas identified in 49 

CFR part 222, appendix D. FRA used 

collision data from 2001–2005. 

The total number of gated, nonwhistle ban crossings was 38,577. 

The total number of collisions at these 

crossings was 2,388. 

Fatality

Injur

 Rate = Fatalities

Fatal Incidents = = 364314

1 1592 .

y Injuries Rate = in Injury Only Incidents

Injury Only Incidents = = 795

601

1 3228 .

Applying the fatality rate and injury 

rate to the probable number of fatalities 

and casualties predicted to occur at each 

of the 38,577 crossings identified and 

the predicted cost of the associated 

injuries and fatalities, FRA calculates 

the NSRT to be 19,047. 

Authority: 28 U.S.C. 2461, note; 49 U.S.C. 

20103, 20107, 20153, 21301, 21304; 49 CFR 

1.49; 49 CFR part 222, Appendix D. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 20, 

2007. 

Grady C. Cothen Jr., 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

Standards and Program Development. 

[FR Doc. E7–5617 Filed 3–28–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket Number FRA–2007–27411] 

Notice of Application for Approval of 

Discontinuance or Modification of a 

Railroad Signal System or Relief From 

the Requirements of Title 49 Code of 

Federal Regulations Part 236 

Pursuant to Title 49 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) Part 235 and 49 

U.S.C. 20502(a), the following railroads 

have petitioned the Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA) seeking approval 


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