
[Federal Register: April 22, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 78)]
[Notices]               
[Page 21686-21687]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22ap08-97]                         

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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 waiver of compliance with certain 
requirements of its safety standards. The individual petition is 
described below, including the parties seeking relief, the regulatory 
provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the 
petitioner's arguments in favor of relief.

BNSF Railway Company

(Docket Number FRA-2008-0034)

    BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has submitted a waiver petition to 
extend the deadline established by 49 CFR 236.18(b) for the complete 
implementation of their Software Management Control Plan (SMCP), 
pursuant to 49 CFR 211.7.
    BNSF's development and implementation of software tools to handle 
the gathering of office and field information has taken significantly 
longer than anticipated. Once those systems were built, the metadata 
(data used to define hardware and software configurations) to describe 
the types of units, modules, software, and other parameters has also 
taken much longer than anticipated. While BNSF is continuing to develop 
software, gather metadata on processor-based software and modules, 
gather field software information, and resolve differences in office 
and field data, much of the needed information has required suppliers 
to perform extensive searches through their archives, reformat the 
data, and populate the metadata.
    Since many processor-based units actually need to be powered down 
to verify the software, BNSF is gathering additional hardware 
information at the same time to minimize the impact of operations. 
Gathering hardware modification level information on cabinets and 
modules goes beyond the requirements of 49 CFR 236.18 (unless software 
related); but BNSF asserts that this safety improvement is required.

[[Page 21687]]

With this information, BNSF should be able to uniformly address any 
necessary manufacturer bulletins and updates at the same time while 
gathering software and hardware information.
    The software development time, the time it has taken to gather 
manufacturer information, the training time, the time for field 
personnel to gather information, the time for resolution of 
differences, and the time needed for verification of modification 
levels, all place BNSF's timeline to comply with 49 CFR 236.18(b) 
significantly beyond the required date of June 6, 2008. To that extent, 
BNSF requests a waiver for relief from the June 6, 2008, deadline 
established by 49 CFR 236.18(b), and asserts that it will need a 12-
month extension to allow for the complete implementation of their SMCP 
no later than June 5, 2009. BNSF does identify specific milestones of 
an intended percentage of completion during the 12-month extension 
period.
    Interested parties are invited to participate in these proceedings 
by submitting written views, data, or comments. All communications 
concerning these proceedings should identify the appropriate Docket 
Number (Docket Number FRA-2008-0034) and may be submitted by one 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.
    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.
    Communications received within 30 days of the date of this notice 
will be considered by FRA before final action being taken. Comments 
received after this period 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 
DOT Docket Management Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W12-
140, in Washington, DC. All documents in the public docket are also 
available for inspection and copying on the Internet at http://
www.regulations.gov.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of any written 
communications and comments received into any of our dockets by 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 the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 
19477-78).

    Issued in Washington, DC on April 16, 2008.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. E8-8669 Filed 4-21-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
