[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 250 (Thursday, December 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73602-73603]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33926]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket No. FRA-1999-6404]


Extension of Comment Period; Petition for Grandfathering of Non-
Compliant Equipment National Railroad Passenger Corporation

    On October 18, 1999, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation 
(Amtrak) petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for 
grandfathering of non-compliant passenger equipment manufactured by 
Renfe Talgo of America (Talgo) for use on rail lines between Vancouver, 
British Columbia and Eugene, Oregon; between Las Vegas, Nevada and Los 
Angeles, California; and between San Diego, California and San Luis 
Obispo, California. Notice of receipt of such petition was published in 
the Federal Register on November 2, 1999, at 64 FR 5920. Interested 
parties were invited to comment on the petition before the end of the 
comment period of December 2, 1999.
    On December 2, 1999, FRA extended the comment period in this 
proceeding until December 15, 1999, following a Freedom of Information 
Act (FOIA) request that certain items in FRA files referenced in 
Amtrak's petition be made available for review (see 64 FR 68195; Dec. 
6, 1999). Talgo has objected to released of certain of the requested 
information under FOIA exemption 4 (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), which exempts 
from release trade secrets and commercial or financial information 
obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential. On December 
15, 1999, FRA further extended the comment period in this proceeding 
until 10:00 a.m. on December 27, 1999 to enable FRA to finalize its 
response to the FOIA request, and to permit the responder time to 
analyze the documents released by FRA (see 64 FR 71846; Dec. 22, 1999). 
Unfortunately, processing the FOIA request has taken longer than 
anticipated; FRA released documents on November 30, December 10, and 
December 21. FRA has redacted from the documents released information 
that is protected under FOIA exemption 4. On December 13, the FOIA 
requester again asked FRA to further extend the comment period so that 
the requester would have 15 days after receipt of all

[[Page 73603]]

of the requested documents to analyze the documents and prepare 
comments on the grandfather petition. FRA has agreed to this request 
and has extended the comment period to the close of business on January 
10, 2000. FRA expects that further extensions of the comment period 
will not be necessary.
    FRA has placed in the docket a copy of all the documents provided 
to the FOIA requester. FRA has also placed in the docket several 
documents that it received from Talgo that are relevant to the Amtrak 
petition. Two of these documents contain comments or corrections to the 
minutes of the June 17, 1999 meeting between FRA, Amtrak and Talgo; the 
minutes of this meeting was one of the documents released to the FOIA 
requester. Another document contains weld information pertaining to the 
Talgo equipment. The remaining documents contain design changes to the 
Talgo equipment requested by FRA. Talgo has requested confidential 
treatment, under exemption 4 of FOIA, for certain information in the 
documents. FRA has redacted from the Talgo documents information that 
is protected by exemption 4. Unredacted versions of all of the 
documents placed in the docket are available to agency staff and will 
be used in the agency's review of the Amtrak petition to the extent 
deemed necessary.
    Comments received after January 10, 2000 will be considered to the 
extent possible.
    Comments received after January 10, 2000 will be considered to the 
extent possible. Amtrak's petition, documents inserted in the docket, 
and all written communications concerning this proceeding are available 
for examination during regular business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) 
at DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 
400 Seventh, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590-0001. All documents in the 
public docket are also available for inspection and copying on the 
Internet at the docket facility's Web site at http://dms.dot.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on December 23, 1999.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 99-33926 Filed 12-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-M