68510 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 217 / Thursday, November 10, 2005 / Notices 

yardmaster. Due to the configuration 

and service demands, the yard cannot 

facilitate the placement of a derail at the 

150-foot interval as prescribed in 

§ 218.29. Additionally, LIRR believes 

that lining and locking the manual 

switches increases potential error of 

proper switch alignment, and is a safety 

concern for all employees working in 

the area. Therefore, LIRR requested that 

employees at these two facilities be 

allowed to place derails at a distance of 

50-feet from the equipment. LIRR stated 

that they will post signage to reinforce 

the 5 mph speed restriction, as well as 

paint physical clearance lines denoting 

the 50-foot distance. 

As a result of the comments received 

by FRA concerning this waiver petition, 

FRA has determined that a public 

hearing is necessary before a final 

decision is made on this petition. 

Accordingly, a public hearing is hearby 

set to begin at 9 a.m. on December 21, 

2005, in Conference Room 820 at the 

Hunters Point Plaza, 47–40 21st Street, 

Long Island City, New York, 11101. 

Interested parties are invited to present 

oral statements at this hearing. 

The hearing will be informal and will 

be conducted in accordance with FRA’s 

Rules of Practice (49 CFR Part 211.25) 

by a representative designated by FRA. 

FRA’s representative will make an 

opening statement outlining the scope 

of the hearing, as well as any additional 

procedures for the conduct of the 

hearing. The hearing will be a nonadversarial proceeding in which all 

interested parties will be given the 

opportunity to express their views 

regarding this waiver petition, without 

cross-examination. After all initial 

statements have been completed, those 

persons wishing to make brief rebuttal 

statements will be given an opportunity 

to do so in the same order in which 

initial statements were made. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on November 4, 

2005. 

Grady C. Cothen, Jr., 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

Standards and Program Implementation. 

[FR Doc. 05–22393 Filed 11–9–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

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 favour of relief. 

Norfolk Southern Corporation 

[Docket Number FRA–2005–22822] 

The Norfolk Southern Corporation 

(NS) seek a permanent waiver of 

compliance with the Locomotive Safety 

Standards, 49 CFR 229.21(a), as it 

pertains to the recordkeeping 

requirement for locomotive daily 

inspection reports. If the request is 

granted, NS would file the required 

report electronically in a secure 

centralized data base that would be set 

up to track and store the records for the 

required ninety two days. The railroad 

states that each employee performing 

the inspections would be provided a 

unique electronic identification which 

will be utilized in place of the signature. 

All requirements, date, time, location, 

person conducting inspection, and any 

non-complying conditions will be 

reported electronically. NS utilizes an 

onboard record of daily inspection and 

will continue to do so if their request is 

granted. 

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–2005–

22822) and must be submitted to the 

Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket 

Management Facility, Room Pl–401, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

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. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on November 4, 

2005. 

Grady C. Cothen, Jr., 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

Standards and Program Development. 

[FR Doc. 05–22391 Filed 11–9–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Ex Parte No. 656 (Sub-No. 1)] 

Investigation into the Practices of the 

National Classification Committee 

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, 

DOT. 

ACTION: Extension of deadline for filing 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Board is extending, by 14 

days, the deadline for filing the 

comments requested in its decision 

served on October 13, 2005, and 

published in the Federal Register on 

October 19, 2005, at 70 FR 60881–82. 

DATES: The deadline for filing opening 

comments in this proceeding is 

extended to December 2, 2005. The 

deadline for filing a reply by the 

National Classification Committee is 

extended to December 22, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Any filing submitted in this 

proceeding must refer to STB Ex Parte 

No. 656 (Sub-No. 1) and must be 

submitted either via the Board’s e-filing 

format or in the traditional paper 

format. Any person using e-filing should 

comply with the instructions found on 

the Board’s http://www.stb.dot.gov Web 

site, at the ‘‘E-FILING’’ link. Any person 

submitting a filing in the traditional 

paper format should send an original 

and 10 paper copies of the filing (and 

also an IBM-compatible floppy disk 

with any textual submission in any 

version of either Microsoft Word or 

WordPerfect) to: Surface Transportation 

Board, 1925 K Street, NW., Washington, 

DC 20423–0001. Because all comments 

will be posted to the Board’s Web site, 

persons filing them with the Board need 

not serve them on other participants but 

must furnish a hard copy on request to 

any participant. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joseph H. Dettmar (202) 565–1609. 

(Federal Information Relay Service for 

the hearing impaired: 1–800–877–8339.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Additional information appears in the 

Board’s decision granting this deadline 

extension and in the Board’s prior 

decision served on October 13, 2005, 

and posted on the Board’s Web site at 

http://www.stb.dot.gov, both under