[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51190-51192]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17888]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA-2022-0064]


Request for Information for the Interstate Rail Compacts Program

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

ACTION: Request for information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: On November 5, 2021, President Biden signed into law the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law (BIL). The BIL provides historic appropriations for 
the railroad transportation grant programs administered by FRA and 
authorizes new programs to enhance rail safety and to repair, restore, 
improve, and expand the nation's rail network. A new program 
established under the BIL is the Interstate Rail Compacts Grant Program 
(the Program), which provides financial assistance to existing 
interstate rail compacts (IRCs) to strengthen their capability to 
advance intercity passenger rail service within their regions. The BIL 
requires the Secretary of Transportation to establish the Program; this 
responsibility is delegated to FRA. In this RFI, FRA seeks comments on 
the Program.

DATES: Written comments on this RFI must be received on or before 
September 19, 2022. FRA will consider comments filed after this date to 
the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to docket number FRA-2022-0064 and be 
submitted at https://www.regulations.gov. Search by using the docket 
number and follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number (FRA-2022-0064) for this RFI.
    Note: All comments received, including any personal information, 
will be posted without change to the docket and will be accessible to 
the public at https://www.regulations.gov. You should not include 
information in your comment that you do not want to be made public. 
Input submitted online via https://www.regulations.gov is not 
immediately posted to the site. It may take several business days 
before your submission is posted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information related to 
this RFI, please contact Wynne Davis, Supervisory Transportation 
Analyst, Program Development and Strategy Division, by email: 
[email protected] or by telephone: 202-493-6122.

[[Page 51191]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Program allows FRA to provide financial assistance to existing 
IRCs, which are established in law by member States passing identical 
or near identical legislation, to develop and advance intercity 
passenger rail service. The Program can fund the technical and 
administrative functions of IRCs in addition to supporting coordination 
and promotion activities for rail services within a region.
    IRCs have a history of promoting intercity passenger rail projects 
within their regions and encouraging policies that foster the efficient 
development of intercity passenger rail projects. IRCs have also served 
as a means of regional coordination of rail projects sponsored by the 
departments of transportation in their member States. Furthermore, as 
investment in intercity passenger rail from State and Federal 
governments over the past decade has created increasingly robust rail 
networks, a greater need has emerged for increased cooperation across 
state lines to coordinate intercity passenger rail services and project 
delivery. Certain regions have also expressed a desire for strong 
leadership to represent regional needs. IRCs present an opportunity to 
fulfill these needs. The Program is designed to support IRCs by 
providing financial assistance to facilitate their administrative and 
technical functions and encourage IRCs to build greater organizational 
capacity.

Information Requested

    FRA is seeking input on how the Program can best support existing 
IRCs so they are able to take a more central role in advancing the 
development of intercity passenger rail service. Additionally, although 
only established IRCs are eligible for financial assistance under the 
Program, FRA is considering whether offering other types of assistance 
outside of the Program, such as technical support, to States interested 
in developing IRCs would be beneficial. Therefore, in addition to 
questions about the Program, FRA is seeking comments about how it may 
be able to assist States in those endeavors.
    FRA requests that responses to the RFI be organized by the topics 
outlined below, including references, as applicable, to the numbered 
questions. Respondents are encouraged to address in their responses any 
topic they believe to be relevant to the Program and not limited to 
addressing only those topics and questions outlined below.

Program Eligible Activities

    Under the Program, financial assistance is available to established 
IRCs for--
     Cost of Administration;
     Systems Planning, including the impact on freight 
operations and ridership; \1\
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    \1\ Systems planning is a high-level planning process that 
occurs prior to project specific planning studies and identifies 
potential solutions to transportation challenges. Regional rail 
plans are an example of a systems planning study and identify a 
network of corridors that may have the potential to support 
intercity passenger rail service within a region.
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     Promotion of Intercity Passenger Rail Operations;
     Preparation of applications for competitive Federal grant 
programs; and
     Operations Coordination.
    1. What administrative costs need funding?
    2. How would IRCs use funding for systems planning studies?
    3. What promotional activities for intercity passenger rail 
operations require funding?
    4. What preparation activities for Federal grant programs require 
funding?
    5. What operations coordination activities require funding?
    6. Of the eligible activities listed above, are there activities 
that are particularly important or helpful to support an IRC's work?
    7. What deliverables should FRA require for tasks associated with 
these activities?
    8. How should FRA measure performance for these activities?

Sequencing of Eligible Activities

    FRA anticipates that established IRCs at various stages of 
development may focus on different activities based on issues relevant 
to the compact, and their capacities. Longer-established, more active 
compacts may have a greater need to focus on operations coordination 
while newly-developed compacts may focus more on securing 
administrative and technical staff and establishing the basic 
parameters of the compact, such as a mission statement and bylaws. The 
eligible activities allow for range of endeavors to provide support to 
IRCs at different stages of development.
    Providing a framework to sequence the eligible activities could 
assist IRCs in identifying key actions to support the development of 
intercity passenger rail within their region. For example, encouraging 
the development of a regional rail planning study as a first 
deliverable could be helpful, because regional rail plans can act as a 
roadmap to determine how and when corridors services should be 
implemented. A regional rail plan can still provide this benefit in 
instances where State departments of transportation have advanced more 
detailed corridor planning studies, because the analysis completed in a 
regional rail plan can describe network benefits of operating a region 
of connected corridors. Some eligible activities, such as the cost of 
administration, would not be tied to a sequencing framework as these 
costs are required to support the interstate rail compact throughout 
the lifecycle of the grant.
    9. Would providing a framework for the sequencing of eligible 
activities be helpful? If so, what should the sequencing framework look 
like?
    10. What are the potential drawbacks of establishing a sequencing 
framework for eligible activities?
    11. What are the potential benefits of establishing a sequencing 
framework for eligible activities?

IRC Development and Dormant IRCs

    As mentioned above, FRA is considering assisting States interested 
in establishing an IRC to better coordinate developing intercity 
passenger rail service within a region. Although FRA is unable to offer 
financial assistance to establish an IRC, FRA is considering providing 
other types of assistance, such as technical assistance, for this 
purpose.
    Additionally, FRA recognizes that restarting the activities of a 
dormant IRC is a significant undertaking and the authorized activities 
of the IRC may no longer reflect present day needs and priorities. FRA 
is considering how it may assist in these endeavors as well.
    Feedback from stakeholders and the public on the below questions 
will assist FRA in this regard.
    12. In what instances should States consider establishing an IRC?
    13. What are the specific issues States are seeking to resolve 
through the establishment of an IRC?
    14. What States should consider establishing an IRC?
    15. What issues or challenges make it difficult to establish an 
interstate compact or IRC?
    16. How can FRA most effectively facilitate establishing a new IRC?
    17. How can FRA best facilitate coordination of project development 
among States to achieve better service and performance than project 
development conducted by individual States?
    18. In what instances should States consider resuming activities 
under a dormant IRC?
    19. In what instances should States consider legislative action to 
expand the

[[Page 51192]]

authorized activities an interstate compact can undertake?
    20. What type of assistance from FRA would be helpful in restarting 
the work of a dormant IRC?

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Paul Nissenbaum,
Associate Administrator, Office of Railroad Policy and Development.
[FR Doc. 2022-17888 Filed 8-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P