[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 95 (Monday, May 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 21386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08906]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA-2010-0029]
Amtrak's Request To Amend Its Positive Train Control System
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: On April 28, 2025, FRA published a notice of availability and
request for comments about the request for amendment (RFA) that the
National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) submitted on April 16,
2025. Amtrak's RFA requests authorization to temporarily disable one of
its FRA-certified positive train control (PTC) systems for a period of
one to two hours in support of the installation and testing of a new
Back Office Subsystem environment upgrade. FRA is publishing this
notice to extend the comment period, which would otherwise end on May
19, 2025, to May 30, 2025, due to a technical docket issue that
occurred at the time of publication of the first notice.
DATES: The comment period for the document published April 28, 2025 at
90 FR 17686 is extended. FRA will consider comments received by May 30,
2025. FRA may consider comments received after that date to the extent
practicable and without delaying implementation of valuable or
necessary modifications to a PTC system.
ADDRESSES: Comments: Comments may be submitted by going to https://www.regulations.gov and following the online instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and the
applicable docket number. The relevant PTC docket number for this host
railroad is Docket No. FRA-2010-0029. For convenience, all active PTC
dockets are hyperlinked on FRA's website at https://railroads.dot.gov/research-development/program-areas/train-control/ptc/railroads-ptc-dockets. All comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov; this includes any personal information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gabe Neal, Staff Director, Signal,
Train Control, and Crossings Division, telephone: 816-516-7168, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In general, title 49 United States Code
(U.S.C.), section 20157(h) requires FRA to certify that a host
railroad's PTC system complies with title 49 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), part 236, subpart I, before the technology may be
operated in revenue service. Before making certain changes to an FRA-
certified PTC system or the associated FRA-approved PTC Safety Plan
(PTCSP), a host railroad must submit, and obtain FRA's approval of, an
RFA to its PTC system or PTCSP under 49 CFR 236.1021.
Under 49 CFR 236.1021(e), FRA's regulations provide that FRA will
publish a notice in the Federal Register and invite public comment in
accordance with 49 CFR part 211, if an RFA includes a request for
approval of a material modification or discontinuance of a signal or
train control system. Accordingly, this notice informs the public that,
on April 16, 2025, Amtrak submitted an RFA to its Interoperable
Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS). Amtrak seeks FRA's
approval to disable its I-ETMS temporarily, for one to two hours, to
support the installation and testing of a new Back Office Subsystem
environment upgrade in June 2025. Amtrak asserts that this new
environment will support improved I-ETMS operations reliability. That
RFA is available in Docket No. FRA-2010-0029.
Interested parties are invited to comment on Amtrak's RFA by
submitting written comments or data. During FRA's review of this
railroad's RFA, FRA will consider any comments or data submitted within
the timeline specified in this notice and to the extent practicable,
without delaying implementation of valuable or necessary modifications
to a PTC system. See 49 CFR 236.1021; see also 49 CFR 236.1011(e).
Under 49 CFR 236.1021, FRA maintains the authority to approve, approve
with conditions, or deny a railroad's RFA at FRA's sole discretion.
Privacy Act Notice
In accordance with 49 CFR 211.3, FRA solicits comments from the
public to better inform its decisions. DOT posts these comments,
without edit, including any personal information the commenter
provides, to https://www.regulations.gov, as described in the system of
records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at https://www.transportation.gov/privacy. See https://www.regulations.gov/privacy-notice for the privacy notice of regulations.gov. To facilitate
comment tracking, we encourage commenters to provide their name, or the
name of their organization; however, submission of names is completely
optional. If you wish to provide comments containing proprietary or
confidential information, please contact FRA for alternate submission
instructions.
Issued in Washington, DC.
Carolyn R. Hayward-Williams,
Director, Office of Railroad Systems and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2025-08906 Filed 5-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P