[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 29, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48797-48798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19691]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA-2010-0029]
National Railroad Passenger Corporation's Request To Amend Its
Positive Train Control System
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This document provides the public with notice that, on October
3, 2025, National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) submitted two
requests for amendment (RFA) to its FRA-certified positive train
control (PTC) system, the Interoperable Electronic Train Management
System (I-ETMS), in order to perform stability and reliability upgrades
to its I-ETMS back office subsystem. FRA is publishing this notice and
inviting public comment on the railroad's RFAs to its PTC system.
DATES: FRA will consider comments received by November 18, 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.
[[Page 48798]]
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 of a signal or train control
system. Accordingly, this notice informs the public that, October 3,
2025, Amtrak submitted two RFAs to its I-ETMS PTC system which seeks
FRA's approval for regular quarterly and biannual PTC outages to
perform I-ETMS back office subsystem stability and reliability upgrades
through December 2030. The outages will last approximately two (2)
hours but not to exceed three (3) hours quarterly, and approximately
three (3) hours but not to exceed four (4) hours biannually. Those RFAs
are available in Docket No. FRA-2010-0029.
Interested parties are invited to comment on Amtrak's RFAs by
submitting written comments or data. During FRA's review of these
railroad's RFAs, 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. 2025-19691 Filed 10-28-25; 8:45 am]
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