Notice of Intent To Grant Buy America Waiver to Illinois Department of Transportation To Use Three Non-Domestic Component Parts, in the Incremental Train Control System, 14152-14153 [2013-04894]
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 42 / Monday, March 4, 2013 / Notices
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sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Attendance is open to the interested
public but limited to space availability.
With the approval of the chairman,
members of the public may present oral
statements at the meeting.
Persons wishing to present statements
or obtain information should contact the
person listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section. Members
of the public may present a written
statement to the committee at any time.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 27,
2013.
Paige Williams,
Management Analyst, NextGen, Business
Operations Group, Federal Aviation
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013–04880 Filed 3–1–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Notice of Intent To Grant Buy America
Waiver to Illinois Department of
Transportation To Use Three NonDomestic Component Parts, in the
Incremental Train Control System
Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA), United States
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of intent to grant Buy
America waiver.
AGENCY:
FRA is issuing this notice to
advise the public that it intends to grant
the Illinois Department of
Transportation (‘‘IDOT’’) a waiver from
FRA’s Buy America requirement for the
use of three component parts that are
not produced in the United States for
the Incremental Train Control System
(‘‘ITCS’’). The three component parts
included in IDOT’s waiver request are:
(1) An ethernet cable; (2) an omni
directional antenna; and (3) a router/
server combination. FRA believes a
waiver is appropriate because off-theshelf domestically produced
components meeting the specific
technical and design needs of the ITCS
are not available, and custom-designed
components are not ‘‘reasonably
available’’ given the short timeframe
associated with Positive Train Control
(PTC) implementation and the low
dollar value of the two components as
installed on just twenty (20)
locomotives, and only one router/server
combination needed for the entire
project. The total cost of the nondomestically produced components is
approximately $20,000, out of the $2.5
million cost for the ITCS.
DATES: Written comments on FRA’s
determination to grant IDOT’s Buy
America waiver request should be
provided to the FRA on or before March
19, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Please submit your
comments by one of the following
means, identifying your submissions by
docket number FRA–2012–0033. All
electronic submissions must be made to
the U.S. Government electronic site at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Commenters should follow the
instructions below for mailed and handdelivered comments.
(1) Web Site: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on the U.S. Government electronic
docket site;
(2) Fax: (202) 493–2251;
(3) Mail: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
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Avenue SE., Docket Operations, M–30,
Room W12–140, Washington, DC
20590–0001; or
(4) Hand Delivery: Room W12–140 on
the first floor of the West Building, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must
make reference to the ‘‘Federal Railroad
Administration’’ and include docket
number FRA–2012–0033. Due to
security procedures in effect since
October 2001, mail received through the
U.S. Postal Service may be subject to
delays. Parties making submissions
responsive to this notice should
consider using an express mail firm to
ensure the prompt filing of any
submissions not filed electronically or
by hand. Note that all submissions
received, including any personal
information therein, will be posted
without change or alteration to https://
www.regulations.gov. For more
information, you may review DOT’s
complete Privacy Act Statement in the
Federal Register published on April 11,
2000 (65 FR 19477), or visit https://
www.regulations.gov.
For
questions about this notice, please
contact Ms. Linda Martin, Senior
Attorney-Advisor, FRA Office of Chief
Counsel, (202) 493–6062 or via email at
Linda.Martin@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA is
issuing this notice to advise the public
that it intends to grant IDOT’s request
for a waiver from FRA’s Buy America
requirement, 49 U.S.C. 24405(a), for the
use of three component parts, which are
not produced in the United States in the
Incremental Train Control System
(‘‘ITCS’’). Comments may be submitted
regarding this waiver request by the
methods detailed in this notice. The
letter granting IDOT’s request provides
as follows:
Joseph E. Shacter,
Director, Division of Public and
Intermodal Transportation
Illinois Department of Transportation
100 West Randolph Street, Suite 6–600
Chicago, IL 60601
Re: Request for Waiver of Buy America
Requirement
Dear Mr. Shacter:
This letter is in response to your
September 26, 2012 request that the
Illinois Department of Transportation
(IDOT) be granted a waiver from the
Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA)
Buy America provision, at 49 U.S.C.
24405(a)(1), for use in the Incremental
Train Control System (ITCS), of three
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 42 / Monday, March 4, 2013 / Notices
components that are not produced in
the United States. For the following
reasons, FRA is granting IDOT’s Buy
America waiver request.
In December 2010, IDOT and FRA
entered into cooperative agreements to
allow IDOT to complete the activities
necessary to implement high-speed
passenger rail service along Union
Pacific Railroad’s (UP) Chicago to St.
Louis rail corridor. The project consists
of six tasks encompassing infrastructure
improvements, station improvements,
acquiring rolling stock,
communications, and program
management. The overall grant for the
Chicago-St. Louis High Speed Rail
Corridor development is $1.142 billion.
The subject of this waiver is a project
within the larger Chicago to St. Louis
rail corridor development and pertains
to the installation of certain signaling
improvements on a demonstration
segment between Dwight and Joliet,
Illinois. The IDOT contracted with
Amtrak, UP, and General Electric Train
Systems (GETS) to build and supply
onboard equipment to retrofit 20
locomotives with the ITCS for this
demonstration. The total cost of the
ITCS is $2.5 million.
The ITCS system is manufactured by
GETS. The ITCS contains several ‘‘end
products’’—the onboard equipment, the
wayside equipment, and Amtrak’s
Departure Testing Center equipment.
This means that the manufactured
products, e.g., the cables, routers, air
filtration system, power supplies,
radios, antennae, displays, and sensors,
which are assembled into each end
product, are components and must be
manufactured in the United States. The
ITCS’s three end products and the
majority of their components are
manufactured at various locations in the
United States, including Grain Valley
and Warrensburg, Missouri; Melbourne,
Florida; and Chicago, Illinois. The three
components included in IDOT’s Buy
America waiver request are: (1) an
Ethernet Cable from INET–II Radio to
Ethernet Switch; (2) a 900 MHz Omnidirectional antenna; and (3) a
RuggedComm RX–1000 router/server
combination. The total cost of the nondomestically produced components is
approximately $20,000, out of the $2.5
million cost for the ITCS.
Section 24405(a)(1) authorizes the
Secretary of Transportation to obligate
grant funds only if the steel, iron, and
manufactured goods used in the project
are produced in the United States.
However, section 24405(a)(2) also
permits the Secretary (delegated to the
FRA Administrator) to waive the Buy
America requirements if the Secretary
finds that: (A) applying paragraph one
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:15 Mar 01, 2013
Jkt 229001
would be inconsistent with the public
interest; (B) the steel, iron, and goods
manufactured in the United States are
not produced in sufficient and
reasonably available amount or are not
of a satisfactory quality; (C) rolling stock
or power train equipment cannot be
bought or delivered to the United States
within a reasonable time; or (D)
including domestic material will
increase the cost of the overall project
by more than 25 percent.
The FRA believes a waiver is
appropriate under 49 U.S.C.
24405(a)(2)(B) because off-the-shelf
domestically produced components
meeting the specific technical and
design needs of the ITCS are not
available. Moreover, custom-designed
components are not ‘‘reasonably
available’’ given the short timeframe
associated with positive train control
(PTC) implementation, low dollar value
of the two components as installed on
just 20 locomotives, and only one
router/server combination is needed for
the entire project. The manufacturer of
the ITCS, General Electric
Transportation Systems (GETS),
estimates that it would cost more than
$1 million and take approximately six
months to one year to accomplish the
redesign and testing of parts made by a
domestic manufacturer, assuming one
would come forth to do so.
Additionally, the need to continue the
revenue demonstration testing of the
ITCS equipment, which is a PTC system
that the Rail Safety Improvement Act of
2008 requires be installed on certain rail
lines by December 31, 2015, is essential
to continued progress toward
implementing this important safety
technology. The successful
demonstration tests were conducted in
October 2012, and any further delay
could result in additional costs and risk
that the PTC system may not be fully
tested for implementation prior to the
2015 statutory deadline.
The FRA believes that such costs in
both time and money make the
components not ‘‘reasonably available’’
and, therefore, a waiver is appropriate.
Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 24405(a)(4), FRA
will publish this letter granting IDOT’s
request in the Federal Register and
provide notice of such findings and an
opportunity for public comment after
which this waiver will become effective.
This waiver applies only to the ITCS as
installed in the Chicago to St. Louis
corridor passenger rail service
demonstration segment between Dwight
and Joliet and specifically because of
the facts and time constraints associated
with this limited demonstration project.
Any future requests for waivers
regarding the ITCS will not be granted
PO 00000
Frm 00083
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
14153
without a specific showing that
domestic products for that particular
project are not reasonably available at
the time any subsequent request is made
and GETS has made significant good
faith efforts to secure all domestic
components for the ITCS. The FRA
encourages GETS to use the services of
the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
National Institute for Standards and
Technology-Manufacturing Extension
Partnership (NIST–MEP). The FRA and
NIST–MEP have partnered to increase
the domestic manufacturing base for rail
rolling stock and rail infrastructure
related products. The FRA can facilitate
these discussions, as requested.
Questions about this letter can be
directed to Linda Martin, Senior
Attorney-Advisor, at
Linda.Martin@dot.gov or 202–493–6062.
Sincerely,
Joseph C. Szabo,
Administrator.
This Federal Register notice is issued in
Washington, DC on February 26, 2013.
Melissa L. Porter,
Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013–04894 Filed 3–1–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–06–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Innovative Technology
Administration
Advisory Council on Transportation
Statistics; Meeting
Research and Innovative
Technology Administration (RITA),
DOT.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Notice.
This notice announces the
cancellation of a meeting of the
Advisory Council on Transportation
Statistics (ACTS). The meeting was
scheduled for Monday, March 4, 2013
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. E.S.T. in the
DOT Conference Center at the U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS) will reschedule the meeting for a
future date. Currently, BTS is
developing a draft agenda. The
following is a summary of the draft
meeting agenda: (1) USDOT welcome
and introduction of Council Members;
(2) Overview of prior meeting; (3)
Discussion of performance measures; (4)
Update on BTS data programs and
future plans (5) Council Members
review and discussion of BTS programs
and plans; (6) Public Comments and
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 42 (Monday, March 4, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14152-14153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04894]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Notice of Intent To Grant Buy America Waiver to Illinois
Department of Transportation To Use Three Non-Domestic Component Parts,
in the Incremental Train Control System
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), United States Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of intent to grant Buy America waiver.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that it
intends to grant the Illinois Department of Transportation (``IDOT'') a
waiver from FRA's Buy America requirement for the use of three
component parts that are not produced in the United States for the
Incremental Train Control System (``ITCS''). The three component parts
included in IDOT's waiver request are: (1) An ethernet cable; (2) an
omni directional antenna; and (3) a router/server combination. FRA
believes a waiver is appropriate because off-the-shelf domestically
produced components meeting the specific technical and design needs of
the ITCS are not available, and custom-designed components are not
``reasonably available'' given the short timeframe associated with
Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation and the low dollar value of
the two components as installed on just twenty (20) locomotives, and
only one router/server combination needed for the entire project. The
total cost of the non-domestically produced components is approximately
$20,000, out of the $2.5 million cost for the ITCS.
DATES: Written comments on FRA's determination to grant IDOT's Buy
America waiver request should be provided to the FRA on or before March
19, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Please submit your comments by one of the following means,
identifying your submissions by docket number FRA-2012-0033. All
electronic submissions must be made to the U.S. Government electronic
site at https://www.regulations.gov. Commenters should follow the
instructions below for mailed and hand-delivered comments.
(1) Web Site: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions
for submitting comments on the U.S. Government electronic docket site;
(2) Fax: (202) 493-2251;
(3) Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE., Docket Operations, M-30, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001;
or
(4) Hand Delivery: Room W12-140 on the first floor of the West
Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must make reference to the ``Federal
Railroad Administration'' and include docket number FRA-2012-0033. Due
to security procedures in effect since October 2001, mail received
through the U.S. Postal Service may be subject to delays. Parties
making submissions responsive to this notice should consider using an
express mail firm to ensure the prompt filing of any submissions not
filed electronically or by hand. Note that all submissions received,
including any personal information therein, will be posted without
change or alteration to https://www.regulations.gov. For more
information, you may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the
Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or visit
https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this notice,
please contact Ms. Linda Martin, Senior Attorney-Advisor, FRA Office of
Chief Counsel, (202) 493-6062 or via email at Linda.Martin@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA is issuing this notice to advise the
public that it intends to grant IDOT's request for a waiver from FRA's
Buy America requirement, 49 U.S.C. 24405(a), for the use of three
component parts, which are not produced in the United States in the
Incremental Train Control System (``ITCS''). Comments may be submitted
regarding this waiver request by the methods detailed in this notice.
The letter granting IDOT's request provides as follows:
Joseph E. Shacter,
Director, Division of Public and Intermodal Transportation
Illinois Department of Transportation
100 West Randolph Street, Suite 6-600
Chicago, IL 60601
Re: Request for Waiver of Buy America Requirement
Dear Mr. Shacter:
This letter is in response to your September 26, 2012 request that
the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) be granted a waiver
from the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Buy America provision,
at 49 U.S.C. 24405(a)(1), for use in the Incremental Train Control
System (ITCS), of three
[[Page 14153]]
components that are not produced in the United States. For the
following reasons, FRA is granting IDOT's Buy America waiver request.
In December 2010, IDOT and FRA entered into cooperative agreements
to allow IDOT to complete the activities necessary to implement high-
speed passenger rail service along Union Pacific Railroad's (UP)
Chicago to St. Louis rail corridor. The project consists of six tasks
encompassing infrastructure improvements, station improvements,
acquiring rolling stock, communications, and program management. The
overall grant for the Chicago-St. Louis High Speed Rail Corridor
development is $1.142 billion.
The subject of this waiver is a project within the larger Chicago
to St. Louis rail corridor development and pertains to the installation
of certain signaling improvements on a demonstration segment between
Dwight and Joliet, Illinois. The IDOT contracted with Amtrak, UP, and
General Electric Train Systems (GETS) to build and supply onboard
equipment to retrofit 20 locomotives with the ITCS for this
demonstration. The total cost of the ITCS is $2.5 million.
The ITCS system is manufactured by GETS. The ITCS contains several
``end products''--the onboard equipment, the wayside equipment, and
Amtrak's Departure Testing Center equipment. This means that the
manufactured products, e.g., the cables, routers, air filtration
system, power supplies, radios, antennae, displays, and sensors, which
are assembled into each end product, are components and must be
manufactured in the United States. The ITCS's three end products and
the majority of their components are manufactured at various locations
in the United States, including Grain Valley and Warrensburg, Missouri;
Melbourne, Florida; and Chicago, Illinois. The three components
included in IDOT's Buy America waiver request are: (1) an Ethernet
Cable from INET-II Radio to Ethernet Switch; (2) a 900 MHz Omni-
directional antenna; and (3) a RuggedComm RX-1000 router/server
combination. The total cost of the non-domestically produced components
is approximately $20,000, out of the $2.5 million cost for the ITCS.
Section 24405(a)(1) authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to
obligate grant funds only if the steel, iron, and manufactured goods
used in the project are produced in the United States. However, section
24405(a)(2) also permits the Secretary (delegated to the FRA
Administrator) to waive the Buy America requirements if the Secretary
finds that: (A) applying paragraph one would be inconsistent with the
public interest; (B) the steel, iron, and goods manufactured in the
United States are not produced in sufficient and reasonably available
amount or are not of a satisfactory quality; (C) rolling stock or power
train equipment cannot be bought or delivered to the United States
within a reasonable time; or (D) including domestic material will
increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent.
The FRA believes a waiver is appropriate under 49 U.S.C.
24405(a)(2)(B) because off-the-shelf domestically produced components
meeting the specific technical and design needs of the ITCS are not
available. Moreover, custom-designed components are not ``reasonably
available'' given the short timeframe associated with positive train
control (PTC) implementation, low dollar value of the two components as
installed on just 20 locomotives, and only one router/server
combination is needed for the entire project. The manufacturer of the
ITCS, General Electric Transportation Systems (GETS), estimates that it
would cost more than $1 million and take approximately six months to
one year to accomplish the redesign and testing of parts made by a
domestic manufacturer, assuming one would come forth to do so.
Additionally, the need to continue the revenue demonstration testing of
the ITCS equipment, which is a PTC system that the Rail Safety
Improvement Act of 2008 requires be installed on certain rail lines by
December 31, 2015, is essential to continued progress toward
implementing this important safety technology. The successful
demonstration tests were conducted in October 2012, and any further
delay could result in additional costs and risk that the PTC system may
not be fully tested for implementation prior to the 2015 statutory
deadline.
The FRA believes that such costs in both time and money make the
components not ``reasonably available'' and, therefore, a waiver is
appropriate. Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 24405(a)(4), FRA will publish this
letter granting IDOT's request in the Federal Register and provide
notice of such findings and an opportunity for public comment after
which this waiver will become effective. This waiver applies only to
the ITCS as installed in the Chicago to St. Louis corridor passenger
rail service demonstration segment between Dwight and Joliet and
specifically because of the facts and time constraints associated with
this limited demonstration project. Any future requests for waivers
regarding the ITCS will not be granted without a specific showing that
domestic products for that particular project are not reasonably
available at the time any subsequent request is made and GETS has made
significant good faith efforts to secure all domestic components for
the ITCS. The FRA encourages GETS to use the services of the U.S.
Department of Commerce's National Institute for Standards and
Technology-Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST-MEP). The FRA and
NIST-MEP have partnered to increase the domestic manufacturing base for
rail rolling stock and rail infrastructure related products. The FRA
can facilitate these discussions, as requested. Questions about this
letter can be directed to Linda Martin, Senior Attorney-Advisor, at
Linda.Martin@dot.gov or 202-493-6062.
Sincerely,
Joseph C. Szabo,
Administrator.
This Federal Register notice is issued in Washington, DC on
February 26, 2013.
Melissa L. Porter,
Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-04894 Filed 3-1-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
