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(a) Federal Register notice. FRA will publish in the Federal Register notice of receipt of each petition submitted under § 229.207(b), § 229.207(c), or § 229.209.

(b) Comment. Not later than 60 days from the date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register concerning a petition submitted under §§ 229.207(b), 229.207(c), or 229.209(b), any person may comment on the petition.

(1) Each comment must set forth specifically the basis upon which it is made, and contain a concise statement of the interest of the commenter in the proceeding.

(2) Each comment must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Operations (M-30), West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, and must contain the assigned docket number which appeared in the Federal Register for that proceeding. The form of such submission may be in written or electronic form consistent with the standards and requirements established by the Federal Docket Management System and posted on its Web site at http://www.regulations.gov.

(3) In the event FRA requires additional information to appropriately consider the petition, FRA will conduct a hearing on the petition in accordance with the procedures provided in § 211.25 of this chapter.

(c) Disposition of petitions. (1) In order to determine compliance with the performance criteria in appendix E of this part, FRA will consider proper documentation of competent engineering analysis, or practical demonstrations, or both which may include validated computer modeling, structural crush analysis, component testing, full scale crash testing in a controlled environment, or any combination of the foregoing, together with evidence of effective peer review.

(2) If FRA finds that the petition complies with the requirements of this subpart and that the proposed change or new design standard satisfies the requirements of § 229.205 for the type of locomotive, the petition will be granted, normally within 90 days of its receipt. If the petition is neither granted nor denied within 90 days, the petition remains pending for decision. FRA may attach special conditions to the granting of the petition. Following the granting of a petition, FRA may reopen consideration of the petition for cause stated. Any decision granting or denying a petition is placed in the public docket for the petition.

(3) If FRA finds that the petition does not comply with the requirements of this subpart, or that the proposed change or new design standard does not satisfy the performance criteria contained in Appendix E of this part (where applicable), the petition will be denied, normally within 90 days of its receipt. If the petition is neither granted nor denied within 90 days, the petition remains pending for decision. FRA may re-open a denial of a petition for cause stated.