[Federal Register: May 28, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 103)]
[Notices]
[Page 30661-30662]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28my08-82]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket No. FRA-1999-6439, Notice No. 19]
Adjustment of Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of Adjustment of the Nationwide Significant Risk
Threshold.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part
222, Appendix D, FRA is updating the Nationwide Significant Risk
Threshold (NSRT). This action is needed to ensure that the public has
the proper threshold of permissible risk for calculating quiet zones
established in relationship to the NSRT. This is the second update to
the NSRT since the final rule, titled ``Use of Locomotive Horns at
Highway-Rail Grade Crossings,'' was amended in response to petitions
for reconsideration on August 17, 2006 (71 FR 47614). This notice
announces that the NSRT has fallen from 19,047 to 17,610.
DATES: The effective date is May 28, 2008.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ronald Ries, Office of Safety, FRA,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202)
493-6299 or e-mail: Ronald.Ries@dot.gov); or Kathryn Shelton, Office of
Chief Counsel, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590
(telephone: (202) 493-6038 or e-mail: Kathryn.Shelton@dot.gov).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The NSRT is simply an average of the risk indexes for gated public
crossings nationwide where train horns are routinely sounded. FRA
developed this risk index to serve as one threshold of permissible risk
for quiet zones established under this rule across the Nation. Thus, a
community that is trying to establish and/or maintain its quiet zone
pursuant to 49 CFR Part 222 can compare the Quiet Zone Risk Index
calculated for its specific crossing corridor to the NSRT to determine
whether sufficient measures have been taken to compensate for the
excess risk that results from prohibiting routine sounding of the
locomotive horn. (In the alternative, a community can establish its
quiet zone in comparison to the Risk Index With Horns, which is a
corridor-specific measure of risk to the motoring public when
locomotive horns are routinely sounded at every public highway-rail
grade crossing within the quiet zone.)
In 2006, when the final rule, titled ``Use of Locomotive Horns at
Highway-Rail Grade Crossings'' was amended, the NSRT was 17,030 (71 FR
47614, August 17, 2006). In 2007, FRA recalculated the NSRT to be
19,047 (72 FR 14850, March 29, 2007.)
New NSRT
Using collision data from 2002 to 2006, FRA has recalculated the
NSRT based on formulas identified in 49 CFR Part 222, Appendix D. In
making this recalculation, FRA noted that the total number of gated,
nonwhistle ban crossings was 38,420.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN28MY08.002
Applying the fatality rate and injury rate to the probable number
of fatalities and casualties predicted to occur at each of the 38,420
identified crossings and the predicted cost of the associated injuries
and fatalities, FRA calculates the NSRT to be 17,610.
[[Page 30662]]
Issued in Washington, DC on May 21, 2008.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program
Development.
[FR Doc. E8-11848 Filed 5-27-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P