[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 54 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12105-12106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-6114]



[[Page 12105]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

49 CFR Part 240

[Docket No. FRA-2008-0091, Notice No. 2]
RIN 2130-AB95


Qualification and Certification of Locomotive Engineers; 
Miscellaneous Revisions

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of public hearing and reopening of 
comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: By notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on December 
31, 2008 (73 FR 80349), FRA proposed revisions to its regulations 
governing the qualification and certification of locomotive engineers. 
This document announces a public hearing to provide interested parties 
the opportunity to comment on the NPRM and announces a thirty (30) day 
reopening of the comment period, which closed March 2, 2009, to 
commence on the date of the public hearing. The extension provides 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on NPRM and to respond to 
matters that arise at the public hearing related to the NPRM.

DATES: Public Hearing: A public hearing will be held on the date and at 
the location listed below to provide interested parties the opportunity 
to comment on the proposed revisions contained in the NPRM. A thirty 
(30) day extension of the comment period will commence on the date of 
the hearing. The date of the public hearing is as follows: Tuesday, 
April 14, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. in Washington, DC.
    Reopening of Comment Period: The comment period will reopen 
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 and written comments must be received by 
Thursday, May 14, 2009. Comments received after that date will be 
considered to the extent possible without incurring additional expenses 
or delays.

ADDRESSES: Public Hearing: The public hearing will be held at the 
following location:
    Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building 
Ground Floor, Media Center--Room W11-130, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20905.
    Reopening of Comment Period: Comments related to Docket No. FRA-
2008-0091, may be submitted by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Fax: 1-202-493-2251;
    <bullet> Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590;
    <bullet> Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays; or
    <bullet> Electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, 
http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for 
submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name, docket 
name and docket number or Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for 
this rulemaking. Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act section of this 
document.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or to 
U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John L. Conklin, Program Manager, 
Locomotive Engineer Certification, U.S. Department of Transportation, 
Federal Railroad Administration, Mail Stop 25, West Building 3rd Floor 
West, Room W38-208, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 
(telephone: 202-493-6318); or John Seguin, Trial Attorney, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office 
of Chief Counsel, RCC-10, Mail Stop 10, West Building 3rd Floor, Room 
W31-217, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: 
202-493-6045).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA has received written comments submitted 
by interested parties related to various parts of the NPRM and a 
written request for a hearing on the NPRM. Although FRA believes that 
the topics addressed in the written comments containing the request for 
a hearing are outside of the scope of the NPRM, FRA is holding a public 
hearing to permit the exchange of information and concerns regarding 
FRA's purposed amendments. The public hearing is meant to allow 
interested parties to fully develop and articulate the issues and 
concerns they have with the NPRM so that these concerns can be fully 
addressed in any final rule that is developed. Interested parties are 
invited to present oral statements and proffer evidence at the hearing. 
The hearing will be informal and will be conducted by a representative 
designated by FRA in accordance with FRA's Rules of Practice (49 CFR 
211.25). The hearing will be a non-adversarial proceeding; therefore, 
there will be no cross examination of persons presenting statements or 
proffering evidence. An FRA representative will make an opening 
statement outlining the scope of the hearing. After all initial 
statements have been completed, those persons wishing to make a brief 
rebuttal will be given the opportunity to do so in the same order in 
which the initial statements were made. Additional procedures, as 
necessary for the conduct of the hearing, will be announced at the 
hearing.
    On April 14, 2009, the comment period for the NPRM will reopen for 
thirty (30) days so that the FRA can make the public hearing transcript 
available for review and comment by the general public, interested 
parties can provide additional comments and documents related to the 
NPRM, and interested parties can provide responses to matters that 
arise at the public hearing.

Public Participation Procedures

    Any person wishing to participate in the public hearing should 
notify the Docket Clerk by mail or at the address or fax number 
provided in the ADDRESSES section at least five (5) working days prior 
to the date of the hearing. The notification should identify the party 
the person represents, and the particular subject(s) the person plans 
to address. The notification should also provide the Docket Clerk with 
the participant's mailing address and other contact information. FRA 
reserves the right to limit participation in the hearings of persons 
who fail to provide such notification.

Privacy Act

    FRA wishes to inform all potential commenters that anyone is able 
to search the electronic form of all comments received into any agency 
docket 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 (65 FR 19477-78) or 
you may visit

[[Page 12106]]

http://www.regulations.gov/search/footer/privacyanduse.jsp.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2009.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
 [FR Doc. E9-6114 Filed 3-20-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P