Railroad Safety Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

AGENCY:

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION:

Notice of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) meeting.

SUMMARY:

FRA announces the next meeting of the RSAC, a Federal Advisory Committee that develops railroad safety regulations through a consensus process. The RSAC meeting topics will include remote control locomotives, the Foster-Miller, Inc., study on medical standards for safety-critical railroad employees, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway's positive train control project (Electronic Train Management System), the status of the proposed rule on Performance Standards for Processor-Based Signal and Train Control Systems, issues concerning the maintenance of the highway-rail grade crossing inventory, the report on review of the Railroad Safety Board process, and a railroad security update. Status reports will be given on the Event Recorder Working Group, and other active working groups. The Committee will be asked to vote on the Passenger Safety Working Group's mechanical recommendations for amendments to existing regulations, and the Committee may be asked to accept a new task relating to review of the Roadway Worker Protection regulations.

DATES:

The meeting of the RSAC is scheduled to commence at 9:30 a.m., and conclude at 4 p.m., on Wednesday, January 26, 2005.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting of the RSAC will be held at the Washington Plaza, 10 Thomas Circle, NW., Washington, DC 20005, (202) 842-1300. The meeting is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Sign and oral interpretation can be made available if requested 10 calendar days before the meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Trish Butera, RSAC Coordinator, FRA, 1120 Vermont Avenue, NW., Stop 25, Washington, DC 20590, (202) 493-6212 or Grady Cothen, Acting Associate Administrator for Safety, FRA, 1120 Vermont Avenue, NW., Mailstop 25, Washington, DC 20590, (202) 493-6302.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), FRA is giving notice of a meeting of the RSAC. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., and conclude at 4 p.m., on Wednesday, January 26, 2005. The meeting of the RSAC will be held at the Washington Plaza, 10 Thomas Circle, NW., Washington, DC, 20005, (202) 842-1300. All times noted are Eastern Standard Time.

RSAC was established to provide advice and recommendations to the FRA on railroad safety matters. The Committee consists of 48 individual voting representatives and five associate representatives drawn from among 30 organizations representing various rail industry perspectives, two associate representatives from the agencies with railroad safety regulatory responsibility in Canada and Mexico and other diverse groups. Staffs of the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Transit Administration also participate in an advisory capacity.

See the RSAC Web site for details on pending tasks at: http://rsac.fra.dot.gov/. Please refer to the notice published in the Federal Register on March 11, 1996, (61 FR 9740) for more information about the RSAC.