This collection of information is mandatory under FRA's regulation 49 CFR part 231. Entities required to respond include Class I, Class II, and Class III railroads . The collection of information involves occasional reporting requirements. Under this regulation, railroad industry representatives are permitted to submit requests for special approval of existing industry standards regarding rail equipment. FRA reviews these requests to determine whether it is safe, appropriate, and in the public interest to grant such requests. The information collected is used by FRA to enhance rail safety by establishing clear industry standards to allow the safe placement and securement of safety appliances on modern rail equipment. The information collected is used by FRA to better serve the goal of adapting to changes in modern rail car design while also facilitating statutory and regulatory compliance.
US Code:
49 USC 20103
Name of Law: Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970
The current OMB inventory for this information collection shows a total burden of 35,107 hours, while the present submission exhibits a total burden of 37 hours. Hence, the burden for this information collection has decreased by 35,070 hours from the last submission. The decrease in burden is solely the result of adjustments.
FRA provided a thorough review of this package and determined many of the PRA estimates were outdated and some estimates were not PRA requirements. The reduction is due to review of the estimated number of petitions submitted and the associated statements/comments expected to be received. For instance, FRA anticipates receiving one petition as opposed to the previous estimate of 100 petitions, which is outdated. Additionally, the amount of time it takes to draft a petition has been reduced significantly because the industry is using or building on previously submitted documents or templates and thus is not creating a new document each time.
Furthermore, the cost of respondents has been reduced by $29,961 since petitions are submitted via http://www.regulations.gov and not submitted as hard copies. Therefore, there will be no additional cost to respondents.
The specific information on any burden that has changed is reported in question 15 of the supporting justification.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.