[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 246 (Friday, December 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 75697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30870]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA-2012-0077]
Petition for Waiver of Compliance
In accordance with Part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), this document provides the public notice that by a document
dated August 28, 2012, the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society, Inc.
(ORHS) of Orrville, OH, has petitioned the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) for a waiver of compliance from certain provisions
of the Federal railroad safety regulations contained at 49 CFR part 223
(Safety Glazing Standards--Locomotives, Passenger Cars and Cabooses).
FRA assigned the petition Docket Number FRA-2012-0077.
ORHS has petitioned for a permanent waiver of compliance for three
passenger cars, numbered RPCX 101 (named ``William B Baer''), RPCX 102
(named ``HH Wade''), and RPCX 103 (named ``Robert S Bixler''), each
manufactured as a coach car by The Budd Company. RPCX 101 (a 60-seater
built in 1947), RPCX 102 (a 56-seater built in 1947), and RPCX 103 (a
68-seater built in 1946) have operated since 1985, 1986, and 1986,
respectively. They are on lease for passenger excursions that are
limited to regional railroads, namely Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad,
Columbia and Ohio River Railroad, Ohio Central Railroad (Genesee and
Wyoming), and the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. The cars typically
operate between 1,000 and 2,000 miles per year on about six weekends at
speeds 45 mph or less, mostly on single-track rail lines through areas
largely rural in nature. When not being used, these cars are stored at
the ORHS Pine Street Yard in Orrville, OH, on the Wheeling and Lake
Erie Railway.
There are no end windows except for end doors. No Type I or Type II
FRA-certified glazing is currently installed in the cars either in end
windows or side windows. However, all windows, end and side, are \1/4\-
inch panes of Duplate ASI PPG Safety Glass. ORHS states that barring
one incident of vandalism on RPCX 101 in the spring of 2010 when the
car was in storage--resulting in one cracked window--there has been no
accident or injury attributed to window glazing of these cars came
under their present ownership in 1985. ORHS states that besides the
prohibitive cost (approximately $33,600 for RPCX 101; $32,200 for PRCX
102; and $33,800 for RPCX 103) involved in retrofitting the cars with
FRA-certified glazing, side-lining the cars for this purpose will be
catastrophic because most of its revenue comes from the operation of
these cars on steam and diesel powered excursions. Therefore, ORHS is
requesting this relief.
A copy of the petition, as well as any written communications
concerning the petition, is available for review online at
www.regulations.gov and in person at the U.S. Department of
Transportation's (DOT) Docket Operations Facility, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Operations
Facility is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal Holidays.
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 and may be submitted by any of the following
methods:
Web site: http://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Operations Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., W12-140, Washington, DC
20590.
Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal Holidays.
Communications received by February 4, 2013 will be considered by
FRA before final action is taken. Comments received after that date
will be considered as far as practicable.
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of any written
communications and 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), or online at http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.
Issued in Washington, DC, on December 17, 2012.
Robert C. Lauby,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Regulatory and Legislative
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2012-30870 Filed 12-20-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P