U.S. Locational Requirement for Dispatching of U.S. Rail Operations

This Interim Final Rule adds a new regulation that requires all dispatching of railroad operations that occur in the United States to be performed in the United States, with three minor exceptions. First, a railroad is allowed to conduct dispatching of railroad operations in the United States from a point outside the United States ("extraterritorial dispatching") in emergency situations for the duration of the emergency if the railroad provides prompt written notification of its action to the FRA Regional Administrator of each FRA region in which the railroad operation occurs; such notification is not required before addressing the emergency situation. Second, the rule permits continued extraterritorial dispatching of the very limited track segments in the United States that were regularly being so dispatched in December 1999. This grandfathering covers the four domestic operations that are dispatched from Canada. Third, the rule would allow for extraterritorial dispatching from Canada or Mexico of fringe border operations. Such operations are acceptable provided the United States trackage being dispatched does not exceed 100 miles, each train is under the control of the same assigned crew for the entire trip over that trackage, and the rail line encompassing the trackage either both originates and terminates in either Canada or Mexico without the pick up, set out, or interchange of cars in the United States or is under the exclusive control of a single dispatching district and that portion of the line being dispatched extends no further into the United States than specified types of locations close to the border. In addition, railroads that wish to commence additional extraterritorial dispatching may apply for a waiver under certain other provisions from the domestic locational requirement set forth in this regulation. Such a waiver may be granted if, inter alia, an applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of FRA a program to assure safety oversight of the dis