Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2010 / Notices 63893 

hinder the effective use and expansion 

of America’s Marine Highways; 

waterways and ports, and their 

intermodal, road, rail, and marine high 

connections; and guidelines for the 

development of a national freight policy 

from a marine transportation 

perspective to the Secretary of 

Transportation via the Maritime 

Administrator. 

DATES: Completed application forms 

should reach us on or before November 

17, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Interested candidates may 

request an application form and submit 

a completed application by one of the 

following methods: E-mail: 

nac.marad@dot.gov, subject line: 

MTSNAC Application Fax: 202–366– 

6988, ATTN: MTSNAC DFO, please 

provide name, mailing address and 

telephone and fax numbers to send 

application forms to. Mail: MARAD– 

MTSNAC Designated Federal Officer, 

Room W21–310, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 

SE., Washington, DC 20590, please 

provide name, mailing address and 

telephone and fax numbers to send 

application forms to: Internet: To 

download a PDF or MS-Word 

application form, visit MTSNAC Web 

site at http://www.mtsnac.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Richard Lolich, MTSNAC Designated 

Federal Officer, Maritime 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 

SE., Room W21–310, Washington, DC 

20590, Richard.Lolich@dot.gov, Phone: 

202–366–0704, Fax: 202–366–6988. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

MTSNAC is an advisory committee 

established in accordance with the 

provisions of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (FACA) 5 U.S.C. App. 1 

(Pub. L. 92–463) and the Energy 

Independence and Security Act of 2007 

(Pub. L. 110–140). The MTSNAC 

advises, consults with, reports to, and 

makes recommendations to the 

Secretary on matters relating to the 

Marine Transportation System. Such 

matters may include, but are not limited 

to: 

Impediments that hinder the effective 

use and expansion of America’s Marine 

Highways, and the expanded use of the 

marine transportation system for freight 

and passengers; Waterways and ports, 

and their intermodal road, rail, and 

marine highway connections and 

actions required to meet current and 

future national transportation system 

integration needs; Strategy, policy, and 

goals to ensure an environmentally 

responsible and safe system that 

improves the global competitiveness 

and national security of the U.S.; 

Guidelines for the development of a 

national freight policy from a marine 

transportation Perspective, and; such 

other matters, related to those above, 

that the Secretary or sponsor may charge 

the Committee with addressing. The full 

Committee normally meets at least two 

to three times per fiscal year. 

Subcommittee meetings and 

teleconferences are held more 

frequently, as needed. It may also meet 

for extraordinary purposes. 

Twenty-eight (28) positions will be 

filled. Organizations and companies 

with experience inone or more of the 

following sectors of the marine 

transportation industry are encouraged 

to apply: Ports and Terminal Operators, 

Shippers, Vessel Operators, Non-Marine 

Transportation Providers, Metropolitan 

Planning Organizations and State DOTs, 

Shipbuilders, Labor and Workforce 

Development, and Academia. 

Registered lobbyists are not eligible to 

serve on Federal Advisory Committees. 

Registered lobbyists are lobbyists 

required to comply with provisions 

contained in the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 110–81, as 

amended). 

Each member serves for a term of two 

years. Members may serve consecutive 

terms. All members serve at their own 

expense and receive no salary. While 

attending meetings or when otherwise 

engaged in committee business, 

members will be reimbursed for travel 

and per diem expenses as permitted 

under applicable Federal travel 

regulations. 

If you are interested in applying to 

become a member of the Committee, 

send a completed application to Mr. 

Richard Lolich, Designated Federal 

Officer (DFO) of the Marine 

Transportation System National 

Advisory Council. Send the application 

in time for it to be received by the DFO 

on or before November 17, 2010. 

Dated: October 12, 2010. 

By Order of the Maritime Administrator. 

Christine Gurland, 

Secretary, Maritime Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2010–26092 Filed 10–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Safety Advisory 2010–03 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of Safety Advisory; 

staying alert and situational awareness. 

SUMMARY: FRA is issuing Safety 

Advisory 2010–03 to remind railroads 

and their employees of the importance 

of situational awareness and the need to 

stay alert whenever the job that is being 

performed changes, particularly in main 

track territory. This safety advisory 

contains various recommendations to 

railroads to ensure that these issues are 

addressed by appropriate policies and 

procedures. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ronald Hynes, Director, Office of Safety 

Compliance and Assurance, Office of 

Railroad Safety, FRA, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, 

telephone (202) 493–6404; or Joseph St. 

Peter, Trial Attorney, Office of Chief 

Counsel, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 

SE., Washington, DC 20590, telephone 

(202) 493–6052. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

overall safety of railroad operations has 

improved in recent years. However, a 

series of events over the past 24 months 

highlight the need to review current 

railroad procedures and practices. This 

safety advisory emphasizes the need for 

railroads to review and update their 

current procedures relating to 

situational awareness, alertness when 

working on or near main tracks, and job 

briefings whenever there is a change in 

situation. 

Recent Incidents 

The following is a discussion of the 

circumstances surrounding a recent fatal 

incident, and is based only on FRA’s 

preliminary investigation. The accident 

is still under investigation by FRA and 

local authorities. The causes and 

contributing factors, if any, have not yet 

been established. Therefore, nothing in 

this safety advisory is intended to 

attribute a cause to the incident or place 

responsibility for the incident on the 

acts or omissions of any person or 

entity. 

The fatal incident occurred on 

September 1, 2010, at approximately 

6:50 a.m., in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, 

on the BNSF Railway’s (BNSF) Twin 

Cities Division, Staples Subdivision, in 

double-main track territory. The 

incident occurred when a westbound 

BNSF track geometry train stopped on 

Main Track #1 just west of Egrett 

Boulevard, a public highway-rail grade 

crossing equipped with flashers and 

gates, to allow a BNSF roadmaster (track 

supervisor) to disembark from the 

geometry car. The roadmaster stepped 

off the rear (east) end of the geometry 

car on the field side of Main Track #1 

and onto the highway-rail grade 

crossing. As the geometry train resumed 

movement west, the roadmaster walked 

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63894 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2010 / Notices 

1BNSF has an operating rule that requires the 

horn to be sounded when approaching engineering 

department employees and their related equipment. 

perpendicularly across the crossing, 

toward a BNSF vehicle parked on the 

opposite side of the crossing that was 

waiting to pick him up. As he did so, 

he stepped into the path of an oncoming 

passenger train traveling east on 

adjacent Main Track #2 at 79 mph, and 

was struck and killed. The roadmaster 

was a 53-year-old employee with 31 

years of railroad service. 

FRA is investigating a number of 

potential factors that may have been 

involved in this fatal event. FRA is 

determining whether any of these 

factors, or any other factors it may 

discover, worked to drastically change 

the roadmaster’s job situation when he 

alighted from the geometry car, or 

provided a false sense of security 

regarding the conditions at the crossing. 

Some of these factors include: 

(1) The potential distraction caused 

by the paperwork the roadmaster was 

holding. 

(2) The location of the involved 

crossing in a ‘‘quiet zone.’’ 

Consequently, the striking passenger 

train was not required to sound its horn 

at the grade crossing where the incident 

occurred. 

(3) Whether the locomotive engineer 

of the passenger train was aware that he 

or she was passing maintenance-of-way 

equipment.1

(4) The view afforded the roadmaster 

of adjacent Main Track #2, to the west, 

as the geometry train departed in that 

direction. 

(5) The location of the BNSF vehicle 

the roadmaster was walking toward. 

(6) The affect of the active warnings 

displayed by the warning devices at 

Egrett Boulevard. 

Subsequent to the incident discussed 

above, BNSF conducted an incident 

briefing with all of their employees, 

specifically reminding the employees 

that fouling track during work, or 

incidental fouling for crossing over a 

track, can never be taken as a routine 

matter. Additionally, the briefing 

addressed several existing BNSF 

operating rules mandating that 

employees be alert and attentive to their 

duties, be alert to potential train 

movements, and take proper 

precautions when fouling tracks, 

including incidental fouling when 

walking across tracks when protection 

has not been provided. FRA fully 

supports these rules and applauds BNSF 

for taking the initiative to remind all of 

its employees of the dangers inherent 

when fouling tracks. FRA believes the 

foremost obligation of each employee, 

with regard to his or her own personal 

safety, is individual awareness and 

accountability. 

FRA notes that there have been other 

recent incidents in which railroad 

employees have been killed and injured 

after potentially becoming distracted or 

unaware of changing job situations. For 

instance: 

(1) In 2008, an incident occurred 

when a two-person train crew, after 

reaching their destination, was 

instructed to secure their freight train at 

a location beyond their normal crew 

change point. The location was on 

double-main track on a bridge near a 

parking lot where a relief crew could 

reach the train. The conductor left the 

cab of the locomotive to tie hand brakes 

in order to secure the train, but appears 

to have done so without performing a 

job briefing with the engineer and 

without taking his hand-held radio. He 

crossed in front of the locomotive and 

walked across the bridge between the 

two tracks. An eastward train, 

approaching at 26 mph, observed the 

conductor in the foul, sounded its 

whistle, turned the locomotive’s 

headlights to bright, and tried to stop. 

However, the eastward train struck and 

killed the conductor. 

(2) In 2008, a track gang and a 

contractor were working together and 

walking track along the right-of-way on 

the Northeast Corridor. Periodically, the 

gang would request and receive ‘‘foul 

time’’ to do closer inspections. 

Sometime before the incident, the foul 

time was cancelled and acknowledged. 

Shortly thereafter, an Amtrak train 

passed into the area and struck three of 

the track workers and killed the 

contractor. 

(3) In 2009, a four-person yard 

switching crew was pulling cars up a 

switching lead to make a shoving 

movement into a yard track while a road 

train was approaching in the same 

direction on the main track adjacent to 

the switching lead. The conductor 

riding the second locomotive of the yard 

switcher exited the cab and got off the 

train on the ‘‘live’’ side next to the main 

track, actually fouling the main track. 

He was subsequently struck and killed 

by the train operating on the main track. 

The employees in the above-listed 

incidents were all familiar with 

operating and safety rules, yet in each 

case, the employees’ situational 

awareness seems to have been degraded. 

FRA believes that employee alertness to 

changing job situations could have been 

heightened in these situations by the act 

of engaging in additional job briefings. 

As the railroad industry is well aware, 

a job briefing should take place at the 

beginning of a task and anytime the task 

changes. Railroad operating rules and 

certain Federal railroad safety 

regulations require that these job 

briefings take place. The job briefing can 

act, particularly when there is more 

than one person involved with the task, 

as a ‘‘time out,’’ so to speak, for the 

affected employees to reinforce the need 

to exercise vigilance and awareness in 

the performance of their tasks. 

FRA also wishes to reiterate concerns 

previously expressed to the railroad 

industry in a letter dated January 26, 

2010. In the present era of ‘‘instant 

communications and technology and 

information ‘overload,’ ’’ railroad 

employees need to maintain complete 

situational awareness and avoid 

distractions. Railroad employees should 

keep cell phones and other distracting 

devices turned off and focus their full 

attention on the task at hand. As the 

above examples indicate, even slight 

lapses in situational awareness can lead 

to tragedy. 

Recommended Action: In light of the 

above discussion, and in an effort to 

maintain the safety of railroad 

employees on the Nation’s rail system, 

FRA recommends that railroads: 

(1) Develop processes that promote 

safety mentoring of fellow workers 

regardless of their titles or positions. 

(2) Develop procedures that address 

the need for dialogue between 

coworkers when exiting equipment near 

tracks or moving equipment. 

(3) Review their current process 

regarding job briefings and determine 

best practices that encourage constant 

communication about the activities at 

hand. 

(4) Assess their current rules 

addressing personal safety and 

employee behavior when on or near 

tracks, with particular emphasis on 

main tracks. 

(5) Review current rules pertaining to 

activities that could cause employees to 

become distracted, including rules 

pertaining to the use of electronic 

devices, with the view of strengthening 

and expanding them to include all 

employees when they are on or near 

tracks. 

(6) Review current rules pertaining to 

sounding the locomotive horn, with the 

view of requiring the horn to be 

sounded when approaching and passing 

standing trains, especially at or near 

grade crossings, regardless of whether 

such crossings are located in quiet 

zones. 

FRA encourages railroad industry 

members to take action consistent with 

the preceding recommendations and to 

take other actions to help ensure the 

safety of the Nation’s railroad 

employees. FRA may modify this Safety 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2010 / Notices 63895 

Advisory 2010–03, issue additional 

safety advisories, or take other 

appropriate actions necessary to ensure 

the highest level of safety on the 

Nation’s railroads, including pursuing 

other corrective measures under its rail 

safety authority. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on October 12, 

2010. 

Jo Strang, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety/ 

Chief Safety Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–26089 Filed 10–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Office of Thrift Supervision 

[Docket ID: OTS–2010–0028] 

Open Meeting of the OTS Minority 

Depository Institutions Advisory 

Committee 

AGENCY: Department of the Treasury, 

Office of Thrift Supervision. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The OTS Minority Depository 

Institutions Advisory Committee 

(MDIAC) will convene a meeting on 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010, in 

Conference Room 6A of the Office of 

Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW., 

Washington, DC, beginning at 9 a.m. 

Eastern Time. The meeting will be open 

to the public. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010, at 9 a.m. 

Eastern Time. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G 

Street, NW., Washington, DC in 

Conference Room 6A. The public is 

invited to submit written statements to 

the MDIAC by any one of the following 

methods: 

• E-mail address: 

Commaffairs@ots.treas.gov; or 

• Mail: To Deirdre A. Foley, 

Designated Federal Official, Office of 

Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20552 in triplicate. 

The agency must receive statements 

no later than October 27, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Deirdre A. Foley, Designated Federal 

Official, (202) 906–5750, Office of Thrift 

Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20552. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By this 

notice, the Office of Thrift Supervision 

is announcing that the OTS Minority 

Depository Institutions Advisory 

Committee will convene a meeting on 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010, in 

Conference Room 6A at the Office of 

Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW., 

Washington, DC, beginning at 9 a.m. 

Eastern Time. The meeting will be open 

to the public. Because the meeting will 

be held in a secured facility with 

limited space, members of the public 

who plan to attend the meeting, and 

members of the public who require 

auxiliary aid, must contact the Office of 

Community Affairs at 202–906–7891 by 

5 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, 

October 27, 2010, to inform OTS of their 

desire to attend the meeting and to 

provide the information that will be 

required to facilitate entry into the OTS 

building. To enter the building, 

attendees should provide a government 

issued ID (e.g., driver’s license, voter 

registration card, etc.) with their full 

name, date of birth, and address. The 

purpose of the meeting is to advise OTS 

on ways to meet the goals established by 

section 308 of the Financial Institutions 

Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act 

of 1989 (FIRREA), Public Law 101–73, 

Title III, 103 Stat. 353, 12 U.S.C.A. 

§ 1463 note. The goals of section 308 are 

to preserve the present number of 

minority institutions, preserve the 

minority character of minority-owned 

institutions in cases involving mergers 

or acquisitions, provide technical 

assistance, and encourage the creation 

of new minority institutions. The 

MDIAC will help OTS meet those goals 

by providing informed advice and 

recommendations regarding a range of 

issues involving minority depository 

institutions. 

Dated: October 6, 2010. 

By the Office of Thrift Supervision. 

Deirdre A. Foley, 

Designated Federal Official. 

[FR Doc. 2010–25680 Filed 10–15–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6720–01–M 

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