Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Railroad Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FRA-2025-0016]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of information collection; request for comment. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing regulations, FRA seeks approval of the Information Collection Request (ICR) summarized below. Before submitting this ICR to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval, FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified in the ICR. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before May 9, 2025. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Written comments and recommendations for the proposed ICR should be submitted on <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> to the docket, Docket No. FRA-2025-0016. All comments received will be posted without change to the docket, including any personal information provided. Please refer to the assigned OMB control number (2130-0004) in any correspondence submitted. FRA will summarize comments received in response to this notice in a subsequent notice, made available to the public, and include them in its information collection submission to OMB for approval. FRA will summarize comments received in response to this notice in a subsequent notice, made available to the public, and include them in its information collection submission to OMB for approval. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Ms. Arlette Mussington, Information Collection Clearance Officer, at email: <E T="03">arlette.mussington@dot.gov</E> or telephone: (571) 609-1285 or Ms. Joanne Swafford, Information Collection Clearance Officer, at email: <E T="03">joanne.swafford@dot.gov</E> or telephone: (757) 897-9908. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, and its implementing regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, require Federal agencies to provide 60 days' notice to the public to allow comment on information collection activities before seeking OMB approval of the activities. <E T="03">See</E> 44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 1320.8 through 1320.12. Specifically, FRA invites interested parties to comment on the following ICR regarding: (1) whether the information collection activities are necessary for FRA to properly execute its functions, including whether the activities will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FRA's estimates of the burden of the information collection activities, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used to determine the estimates; (3) ways for FRA to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information being collected; and (4) ways for FRA to minimize the burden of information collection activities on the public, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. <E T="03">See</E> 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1). FRA believes that soliciting public comment may reduce the administrative and paperwork burdens associated with the collection of information that Federal regulations mandate. In summary, comments received will advance three objectives: (1) reduce reporting burdens; (2) organize information collection requirements in a “user-friendly” format to improve the use of such information; and (3) accurately assess the resources expended to retrieve and produce information requested. <E T="03">See</E> 44 U.S.C. 3501. The summary below describes the ICR that FRA will submit for OMB clearance as the PRA requires: <E T="03">Title:</E> Railroad Locomotive Safety Standards and Event Recorders. <E T="03">OMB Control Number:</E> 2130-0004. <E T="03">Abstract:</E> This notice includes revisions to a currently approved ICR for the Railroad Locomotive Safety Standards (LSS), and revisions to existing OMB Form FRA F 6180.49A, Locomotive Inspection and Repair Record. The LSS (49 CFR part 229) require locomotives and their appurtenances to be in proper condition and safe to operate in the service to which they are put and include specific inspection, repair, and maintenance requirements. Locomotive inspection, repair, and maintenance records are used to help ensure locomotives are safe to operate. Form FRA F 6180.49A is the main record used to collect required information from inspection, maintenance, and testing of each locomotive. The LSS also require collection of event recorder data. The data gathered from locomotive event recorders is used by the railroad industry to improve train handling and promote the safe and efficient operation of trains throughout the country. Locomotive event recorders also provide FRA and State railroad safety inspectors with verified data elements for use in their oversight responsibilities that show how trains are operated from lead locomotives. This notice includes changes to Form FRA F 6180.49A recommended by the Association of American Railroads on behalf of its Locomotive Committee membership as detailed below: • In Block #6—“Propelled by,” FRA has added four (4) new permissible values for the following propulsion technologies: Hydrogen Electric; Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (ICE); Battery Electric; and Natural Gas. • In Block #15—“Items,” FRA has added new Item Code “8. Hand/Park Brake” to clarify and reference what is reported under the Test Type blocks for the block currently titled “Hand Brake 232.105(c)”. This block has also been updated to read “Hand/Park Brake 232.105(c)” for consistency. Additionally, FRA has made multiple adjustments that increased the previously approved burden hours from 232,525 to 245,200 hours. While the edits to Form FRA F 6180.49A reduced the average time per response from 15 minutes to 13.5 minutes, the overall burden was increased by 12,675 hours. This increase, after a thorough review, is due to the aging fleet, a reduction of repair shops, and optimization of their services. In addition, because of an increase in remote control locomotives, as well as passenger and commuter services, there was a significant increase in the annual number of periodic inspections being performed. For example, under § 229.23, the increase in the number of non-passenger and passenger locomotives requiring periodic inspections accounts for 85 percent of the annual burden hour increase. Relatedly, the increased use of event recorders and the required periodic inspections increased the annual burden by approximately 8 percent. Furthermore, FRA determined that the burden hours reported under § 229.317(b) are for a recordkeeping requirement that is already accounted for under § 229.317(h). The burden has been updated accordingly to remove the duplication. <E T="03">Type of Request:</E> Revision of a currently approved collection. <E T="03">Affected Public:</E> Railroads. <E T="03">Form(s):</E> FRA F 6180.49A. <E T="03">Respondent Universe:</E> 745 railroads. <E T="03">Frequency of Submission:</E> On occasion. <GPOTABLE COLS="7" OPTS="L2(,0,),nj,p7,7/8,i1" CDEF="s75,xs64,r35,xs50,12,7,12"> <TTITLE>Reporting Burden</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">CFR section</CHED> U.S.D. </CHED> <ROW RUL="s"> <ENT I="25"> </ENT> <E T="03">229.9 Movement of non-complying locomotives:</E> </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">—(3) Tagging to indicate “non-complying locomotive”</ENT> <ENT>745 railroads</ENT> <ENT>1,886</ENT> <ENT>1 minute</ENT> <ENT>31.43</ENT> <ENT>$89.13</ENT> <ENT>$2,801.36</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> <E T="03">229.15 Remote control locomotives (RCL):</E> </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">—(a)(11) Tagging to indicate in remote control mode</ENT> <ENT>745 railroads</ENT> <ENT>3000</ENT> <ENT>1 minute</ENT> <ENT>50</ENT> <ENT>89.13</ENT> <ENT>4,456.50</ENT> </ROW> <ROW RUL="s"> <ENT I="22"> <E T="03">229.17 Accident reports:</E> </ENT> </ROW> <ROW EXPSTB="06" RUL="s"> <ENT I="22">The estimated paperwork burden for this regulatory requirement is covered under OMB control number 2130-0500, Accident Incident Reporting and Recordkeeping.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW EXPSTB="00"> <ENT I="22"> <E T="03">229.20 Electronic recordkeeping:</E> </ENT> <ENT A="L05"> </ENT> </ROW> <ROW RUL="n,s"> <ENT I="03">—(b) Design requirements for electronic record system</ENT> <ENT A="L05">Since railroads have already received agency approval for their electronic recordkeeping systems under waiver petitions, FRA estimates that there will be zero (0) requests to modify their electronic recordkeeping systems. Consequently, there is no burden associated with this requirement.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03"> —(c) Operational requirements—Automatic notice to railroads each time locomotive is due for inspection or maintenance ( <E T="03">Note:</E> This requirement does not apply to daily inspections) </ENT> <ENT>745 railroads</ENT> <ENT>40,000</ENT> <ENT>1 second</ENT> <ENT>11.11</ENT> <ENT>89.13</ENT> <ENT>990.23</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> <E T="03">229.21 Daily inspection:</E> </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">—(a) Locomotive daily inspection reports</ENT> <ENT>745 railroads</ENT> <ENT> 744,302 papers 6,698,718 electronic 37,215.10 111,645.30 </ENT> <ENT> 89.13 89.13 </ENT> <ENT> 3,316,981.86 9,950,945.59 </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">—(b) Written reports of MU locomotive daily inspections</ENT> <ENT>9 railroads</ENT> <ENT>1,317,650</ENT> <ENT>3 minutes</ENT> <ENT>65,882.50</ENT> <ENT>80.38</ENT> <ENT>5,295,635.35</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> <E T="03">229.23 Periodic inspection: general:</E> </ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 18k characters. 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