[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 14, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13717-13720]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05054]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA 2017-0002-N-8]


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its 
implementing regulations, FRA is informing the public that FRA has made 
three proposed revisions to the Quarterly Positive Train Control (PTC) 
Progress Report Form (Form FRA F 6180.165), which the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) previously approved on June 20, 2016, under 
its regular processing procedures. Before submitting this revised 
quarterly information collection request to OMB for regular clearance 
and approval, FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of 
the proposed information collection identified below.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than May 15, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on the following proposed activity 
by mail to either: Mr. Robert Brogan, Office of Safety, Planning and 
Evaluation Division, RRS-21, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New 
Jersey Ave. SE., Mail Stop 17, Washington, DC 20590, or Ms. Kimberly 
Toone, Office of Information Technology, RAD-20, Federal Railroad 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 
20590. Commenters requesting FRA to acknowledge receipt of their 
respective comments must include a self-addressed stamped postcard 
stating, ``Comments on OMB control number 2130-0553.'' Alternatively, 
comments may be transmitted via facsimile to (202) 493-6216 or (202) 
493-6497, or via email to Mr. Brogan at [email protected], or to 
Ms. Toone at [email protected]. When you submit comments to FRA in 
response to this notice, please refer to the assigned OMB control 
number 2130-0553 and to Docket Number FRA-2017-0002-N-8. FRA will 
summarize comments received in response to this notice in a subsequent 
notice and include the comments in its information collection 
submission to OMB for approval.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Brogan, Office of Planning 
and Evaluation Division, RRS-21, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 
New Jersey Ave. SE., Mail Stop 17, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: 
(202) 493-6292) or Ms. Kimberly Toone, Office of Information 
Technology, RAD-20, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey 
Ave. SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 493-
6132). (These telephone numbers are not toll-free.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Comment Under the PRA

    The PRA and its implementing regulations require Federal agencies 
to provide 60-days' notice to the public for comment on information 
collection activities before seeking approval or renewal by OMB. See 44 
U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), 1320.10(e)(1), 1320.12(a). 
Specifically, FRA invites interested respondents to comment on: (i) 
Whether the information collection activity is necessary for FRA to 
properly execute its functions, including whether the activity will 
have practical utility; (ii) the accuracy of FRA's estimates of the 
burden of the information collection activity, including the validity 
of the methodology and assumptions used to determine the estimates; 
(iii) ways for FRA to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information being collected; and (iv) ways for FRA to minimize the 
burden of the information collection activity on the public by 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology (e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses). See 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)(i)-
(iv); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1)(i)-(iv). FRA believes soliciting public 
comment will promote its efforts to reduce the administrative and 
paperwork burdens associated with the collection of information. In 
summary, FRA reasons that comments received will advance three 
objectives: (i) Reduce reporting burdens; (ii) ensure

[[Page 13718]]

that it organizes information collection requirements in a ``user 
friendly'' format to improve the use of such information; and (iii) 
accurately assess the resources expended to retrieve and produce 
information requested. See 44 U.S.C. 3501.

II. Background on the Quarterly PTC Reporting Requirement

    Under 49 U.S.C. 20157, as amended by the Positive Train Control 
Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015 (PTCEI Act), FRA must 
conduct compliance reviews at least annually to ensure each railroad is 
complying with its revised PTC implementation plan (PTCIP). The PTCEI 
Act requires railroads to provide information to FRA that FRA 
determines is necessary to adequately conduct such compliance reviews. 
49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2).
    Under its statutory and regulatory investigative authorities, FRA 
currently requires, and seeks to continue requiring, each subject 
railroad to submit Quarterly PTC Progress Reports (Form FRA F 6180.165) 
on its PTC system implementation progress. See 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2); 
see also 49 U.S.C. 20107, 20902; 49 CFR 236.1009(h). Specifically, in 
addition to the Annual PTC Progress Report (Form FRA F 6180.166) due 
each March 31 under 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(1), railroads must provide 
quarterly progress reports covering the preceding three-month period 
and submit the forms to FRA on the dates in the following table until 
full PTC system implementation is completed:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Due dates for quarterly
              Coverage period                          reports
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1: January 1-March 31....................  April 30. *
Q2: April 1-June 30.......................  July 31.
Q3: July 1-September 30...................  October 31.
Q4: October 1-December 31.................  January 31.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Please note that FRA did not require a Q1 progress report to be
  submitted in April 2016. For 2016, the Q1 and Q2 reports were both due
  in the same form on July 31, 2016.

Each railroad must submit its quarterly progress reports on Form FRA F 
6180.165 using FRA's Secure Information Repository (SIR) at https://sir.fra.dot.gov.
    FRA has determined that quarterly reporting is necessary for FRA to 
effectively monitor industry's implementation of PTC systems and to 
meet the statutory mandate to conduct compliance reviews at least 
annually to ensure each railroad is complying with its revised PTCIP. 
See 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2). The annual reports, which contain five more 
sections than the quarterly reports and are due by March 31 each year 
under the PTCEI Act, retrospectively describe railroads' PTC system 
implementation progress for the entire preceding calendar year. 
Importantly, the quarterly reports provide FRA with each railroad's 
real-time implementation progress in as close to real time as possible 
for the current calendar year, enabling FRA to identify railroads that 
are not on track to meet the core implementation milestones they set in 
their revised PTCIPs. FRA specifically chose quarterly reports in lieu 
of the monthly reports OMB previously approved under OMB Control No. 
2130-0553 to monitor industry progress implementing PTC systems, while 
minimizing the burden on industry. See 81 FR 28140, May 9, 2016. The 
frequency of quarterly reporting allows FRA to actively monitor 
railroads' implementation progress and identify railroad-specific and 
industry-wide roadblocks and obstacles to full PTC system 
implementation and to provide technical assistance early enough for 
such assistance to be effective. The quarterly reports also enable FRA 
to determine which railroads are at risk of not meeting the statutory 
deadline for PTC system implementation and the multiple statutory 
criteria required to obtain an extension beyond December 31, 2018, but 
no later than December 31, 2020, for certain non-hardware, operational 
aspects of PTC system implementation. Moreover, the quarterly reports 
enable FRA to provide the public and Congress with data-driven status 
reports on industry's progress implementing this critical, life-saving 
technology four times per year. Because of the quarterly reporting 
requirement, FRA has been able to respond to urgent requests from 
members of Congress and the White House about railroads' up-to-date PTC 
implementation progress following fatal accidents.
    Congress made it clear in the PTCEI Act and the Fixing America's 
Surface Transportation Act that enforcement is FRA's main oversight 
tool for ensuring each railroad implements a PTC system consistent with 
its revised PTCIP and by the new statutory deadline. 49 U.S.C. 
20157(e)(1)-(4). FRA needs the quarterly reports to conduct the 
compliance reviews the PTCEI Act mandates and to initiate well-
supported enforcement action against a delinquent railroad when 
necessary. In the PTCEI Act, Congress required each railroad to provide 
detailed implementation information in its revised PTCIP, including 
end-of-year milestones for spectrum acquisition, employee training, and 
hardware installation, with totals separated by each major hardware 
category. 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(2)(A)(iii). By law, each railroad must 
comply with its revised PTCIP, including its end-of-year milestones, 
and FRA is authorized to assess a civil penalty for any failure to meet 
those milestones. 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(2)(D), (e)(2), 49 CFR 1.89.
    By statute, railroads are required to provide FRA with any 
information FRA deems necessary to adequately conduct its compliance 
reviews. See 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2). PTC systems are required to be 
implemented on approximately 60,000 miles of the over 140,000-mile U.S. 
rail network. And, while FRA will perform random audits of PTC 
implementation, FRA inspectors cannot feasibly inspect every mile of 
the U.S. rail network at different points in time to determine where 
the hardware of PTC systems, for example, has and has not been 
installed and to confirm that railroads are implementing PTC systems as 
they stated they would in their revised PTCIPs. See 49 U.S.C. 
20157(a)(2)(D), (c)(2), (e). Therefore, FRA has reasonably determined 
the Quarterly PTC Progress Reports are necessary for FRA to perform the 
Congressionally-mandated compliance reviews. And, indeed, as discussed 
further below in the proposed changes to the Quarterly PTC Progress 
Report Form, Congress has implicitly agreed with FRA's determination 
this form is necessary by requesting that FRA collect additional 
information.

II. Proposed Revisions to the Quarterly PTC Progress Report

    On June 20, 2016, OMB approved the Quarterly PTC Progress Report 
(Form FRA F 6180.165) for a period of one year, expiring on June 30, 
2017. The current Quarterly PTC Progress Report Form, as approved 
through June 30, 2017, can be accessed and downloaded in FRA's eLibrary 
at: https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L17365. That version of the 
form took into account the Association of American Railroads' written 
comments on behalf of itself and its member railroads; the American 
Public Transportation Association's written comments on behalf of 
Northeast Illinois Commuter Rail System, the Utah Transit Authority, 
the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, and the 
Fort Worth Transportation Authority; and industry stakeholders' 
comments during FRA's public meeting on April 19, 2016. FRA published 
minutes from the meeting on www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FRA 
2016-0002. For a summary of the oral and written comments and FRA's

[[Page 13719]]

responses to the comments, please see 81 FR 28140, May 9, 2016.
    Following the 60-day public comment period after this notice is 
published, FRA will request OMB's re-approval of the form, with three 
proposed changes. First, FRA proposes removing a now inapplicable 
instruction from page 1 of the quarterly form, which stated,

    Please note that FRA did not require a Q1 progress report to be 
submitted in April 2016. For 2016, the Q1 and Q2 reports are both 
due in the same form on July 31, 2016.

    FRA delayed the due date for submitting the first 2016 quarterly 
report to allow time for the normal 60 days of notice and public 
comment to FRA and additional 30 days of public comment to OMB while it 
underwent OMB review as the PRA and its concomitant regulations 
require. Because that due date extension applied only in 2016, FRA 
proposes removing that note from page 1 of the form and retaining the 
standard quarterly due dates below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Due dates for quarterly
              Coverage period                          reports
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1: January 1-March 31....................  April 30.
Q2: April 1-June 30.......................  July 31.
Q3: July 1-September 30...................  October 31.
Q4: October 1-December 31.................  January 31.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition, FRA proposes making the following two changes to 
Section 1 of the form (Summary Section) to clarify the section and 
respond to a Congressional request that FRA collect certain additional 
information:
    (i) To ensure clarity and consistent interpretations by 
respondents, FRA proposes adding instructions to the existing Summary 
Section row entitled, ``Route Miles in Testing or Revenue Service 
Demonstration,'' as a footnote. The current Summary Section in the 
Quarterly PTC Progress Report requires railroads to provide the 
following information:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        Cumulative       Total quantity
             Category                    quantity       required for PTC
                                    completed to date    implementation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Locomotives Fully Equipped and PTC
 Operable.........................
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Installation/Track Segments
 Completed........................
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Radio Towers Fully Installed and
 Equipped.........................
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Employees Trained.................
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Route Miles in Testing or Revenue
 Service Demonstration............
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Route Miles in PTC Operation......
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the Summary Section of the Quarterly PTC Progress Reports 
railroads have submitted to date, some railroads have improperly listed 
the same number of miles in the ``Route Miles in Testing or Revenue 
Service Demonstration'' and ``Route Miles in PTC Operation'' fields, 
under the heading ``Cumulative Quantity Completed to Date.'' This makes 
it impossible for FRA to know if the railroad is indeed still 
conducting PTC testing (i.e., field testing or Revenue Service 
Demonstration) on those route miles or if the railroad is operating the 
PTC system in revenue service on those route miles, which prevents FRA 
from compiling data in its database and using it for the statutorily 
mandated compliance reviews. To clarify the scope of those two rows and 
simplify the reporting process, FRA proposes adding the following 
explanatory instructions as a footnote to the row entitled, ``Route 
Miles in Testing or Revenue Service Demonstration'':

    Enter the cumulative number of route miles where PTC technology 
is currently undergoing field testing or Revenue Service 
Demonstration. Railroads must only identify in the ``Route Miles in 
Testing or Revenue Service Demonstration'' field any route miles 
that are still currently undergoing PTC field testing or Revenue 
Service Demonstration (e.g., in a case where FRA granted a railroad 
provisional revenue service operations authorization for only a 
portion of its network but the railroad is still conducting field 
testing or Revenue Service Demonstration elsewhere in its network). 
Once a railroad has received written authorization from FRA to 
operate its PTC system in revenue service (through either 
provisional operations authorization under 49 U.S.C. 20157(h)(2) or 
PTC System Certification under 49 U.S.C. 20157(h)(1)), the railroad 
must identify any miles where a PTC system is being operated in 
revenue service in the ``Route Miles in PTC Operation'' field. If a 
railroad is operating the PTC system in revenue service and has 
completed all field testing and Revenue Service Demonstration, it 
may write ``Complete'' in the ``Route Miles in Testing or Revenue 
Service Demonstration'' fields.

    (ii) In September 2016, when reviewing data collected in the OMB-
approved Quarterly PTC Progress Report (Form FRA F 6180.165), staffers 
from the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation requested that FRA also collect information to directly 
show each railroad's progress towards completing the revenue service 
demonstration (RSD) criteria under 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B)(vi)-(vii). 
Specifically, to receive an extension beyond December 31, 2018, but no 
later than December 31, 2020, for certain non-hardware, operational 
aspects of PTC system implementation, a railroad must complete each of 
the statutory prerequisites under 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B), including 
one prerequisite that differs depending on whether a railroad is or is 
not a Class I railroad or Amtrak. 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B)(vi)-(vii). 
For Class I railroads and Amtrak, one of the statutory prerequisites is 
that the railroad must have ``implemented a [PTC] system or initiated 
[RSD] on the majority of territories, such as subdivisions or 
districts, or route miles'' the railroad owns or controls that are 
required to have operations governed by a PTC system. 49 U.S.C. 
20157(a)(3)(B)(vi). For other railroads or entities that are not Class 
I railroads or Amtrak, one of the statutory prerequisites is that the 
entity must have initiated RSD on at least 1 territory required to have 
PTC-governed operations, or met any other criteria FRA established. 49 
U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B)(vii). To be clear, by law, Congress authorizes 
FRA to establish alternative RSD criteria only for entities that are 
not Class I railroads or Amtrak. Id. At this time, FRA has established 
alternative RSD criteria for only one commuter railroad.

[[Page 13720]]

    The Summary Section in the current Quarterly PTC Progress Report, 
approved through June 30, 2017, asks railroads to report route miles in 
``Testing or Revenue Service Demonstration.'' However, that does not 
directly indicate whether or not the railroad has satisfied the above 
criteria because, for example, those route miles might refer to a 
combination of route miles in field testing and route miles in RSD, and 
also it does not provide any information about the number of 
territories where the railroad has initiated RSD and how many 
territories are required to have operations governed by a PTC system. 
Similarly, the drop-down menu in Section 4 regarding the overall 
current status of track segments has a ``Testing'' option, which 
provides only an overview of whether that railroad is currently doing 
either field testing or RSD in the track segment, but does not 
differentiate between field testing and RSD, as there might be various 
stages of testing occurring in a particular track segment.
    Rather than substantially changing the existing Summary Section and 
Section 4 of the form, and thus requiring railroads to deviate from the 
procedures and formulas they already have in place for quarterly 
reporting, FRA proposes simply adding one new row to the Summary 
Section and leaving the rest of the form and fields unchanged.
    Specifically, to address the request from Congressional staffers, 
FRA proposes adding a new row in the Summary Section entitled, 
``Territories Where Revenue Service Demonstration Has Been Initiated.'' 
The table headings, ``Cumulative Quantity Completed to Date'' and 
``Total Quantity Required for PTC Implementation'' would remain in 
place in the Summary Section. FRA proposes adding a footnote after the 
word ``Territories'' in the new row to define a territory as ``an 
entire installation/track segment as identified in the railroad's PTCIP 
(e.g., a track segment, territory, subdivision, district, etc.),'' 
consistent with 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B)(vi), 49 CFR part 236, subpart 
I, and other footnotes in the quarterly form. FRA estimates the 
additional burden for this new row would be approximately thirty 
minutes on average for Class I, Class II, large passenger, and medium 
passenger railroads and approximately fifteen minutes on average for 
Class III, terminal, and small passenger railroads. The burden is low 
because it is a high-level question that would require a railroad to 
state only the number of territories where it has initiated RSD and the 
number of territories required to have operations governed by a PTC 
system, both of which are readily known by and available to respondent 
railroads.

III. Overview of Information Collection

    The associated collection of information is summarized below. FRA 
will submit this information collection request to OMB for regular 
clearance as required by the PRA.
    Title: Quarterly Positive Train Control Progress Report.
    OMB Control Number: 2130-0553.
    Form Number(s): FRA F 6180.165.
    Affected Public: Businesses.
    Frequency of Submission: On occasion.
    Respondent Universe: 41 Railroad Carriers.
    Reporting Burden:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                   Average time
   Quarterly PTC progress report     Respondent universe        Total annual       per response    Total annual
                                                                 responses            (hours)      burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Form FRA F 6180.165...............  41 Railroads.........  164 Reports/Forms....           21.60           3,543
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FRA notes that the 21.60-hour estimate is an average for all 
railroads. FRA estimated the quarterly reporting burden is 
approximately 40.5 hours for the 11 Class I and large passenger 
railroads per quarterly form, approximately 27.5 hours for the 11 Class 
II and medium passenger railroads per quarterly form, and approximately 
7.25 hours for the 19 Class III, terminal, and small passenger 
railroads per quarterly form.
    Total Estimated Annual Responses for Form FRA F 6180.165: 164.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden for Form FRA F 6180.165: 3,543 hours.
    Total Estimated Annual Responses for Entire Information Collection: 
147,776.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden for Entire Information Collection: 
3,126,102.
    Status: Regular Review.
    Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), FRA informs all 
interested parties that it may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent 
is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number. Under 5 CFR 
1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FRA informs all interested parties that this proposed 
collection of information is mandatory under 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2).

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 through 3520, 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2).

Sarah L. Inderbitzin,
Acting Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-05054 Filed 3-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-06-P