Automation in the Railroad Industry, 13583-13586 [2018-06281]
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 61 / Thursday, March 29, 2018 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
[Summary Notice No. PE–2018–09]
Petition for Exemption; Summary of
Petition Received; DroneSeed Co.
Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Issued in Washington, DC.
Lirio Liu,
Director, Office of Rulemaking.
This notice contains a
summary of a petition seeking relief
from specified requirements of Title 14
of the Code of Federal Regulations. The
purpose of this notice is to improve the
public’s awareness of, and participation
in, the FAA’s exemption process.
Neither publication of this notice nor
the inclusion or omission of information
in the summary is intended to affect the
legal status of the petition or its final
disposition.
SUMMARY:
Comments on this petition must
identify the petition docket number and
must be received on or before April 18,
2018.
ADDRESSES: Send comments identified
by docket number FAA–2017–1157
using any of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and follow
the online instructions for sending your
comments electronically.
• Mail: Send comments to Docket
Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Room W12–140, West
Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC
20590–0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: Take
comments to Docket Operations in
Room Wl2–140 of the West Building
Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
• Fax: Fax comments to Docket
Operations at 202–493–2251.
Privacy: In accordance with 5 U.S.C.
553(c), DOT solicits comments from the
public to better inform its rulemaking
process. 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.dot.gov/
privacy.
Docket: Background documents or
comments received may be read at
https://www.regulations.gov at any time.
Follow the online instructions for
accessing the docket or go to the Docket
Operations in Room Wl2–140 of the
West Building Ground Floor at 1200
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DATES:
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New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington,
DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jake
Troutman, (202) 683–7788, 800
Independence Avenue SW, Washington,
DC 20591. This notice is published
pursuant to 14 CFR 11.85.
Jkt 244001
Petition for Exemption
Docket No.: FAA–2017–1157.
Petitioner: DroneSeed Company.
Section(s) of 14 CFR Affected:
§§ 91.7(a); 91.119(c); 91.121; 91.151(b);
91.405(a); 91.407(a)(l); 91.409(a)(l) & (2);
91.417(a) & (b); 137.l 9(c), (d) &
(e)(2)(ii)(iii) & (v); 137.31; 137.33;
137.41(c); 137.42.
Description of Relief Sought: The
petitioner is requesting relief in order to
operate three unmanned aircraft systems
(UAS) weighing 55 pounds or more, not
exceeding 185 pounds, for aerial
agricultural operations in remote
operating environments. The three UAS
are the HSE AG V8A+ v2, the DS–10,
and the DS–11, weighing 55 pounds
(lbs.), 124.09 lbs., and 102.5 lbs.,
respectively, at maximum (fully loaded)
take-off weight. The petitioner also
requests relief to allow a single person
to act as remote pilot in command for
up to fifteen simultaneous operations of
UAS weighing 55 lbs. or more.
Additionally, the petitioner is
requesting relief for the pilot in
command to operate the UAS weighing
55 lbs. or more with a remote pilot
certificate.
[FR Doc. 2018–06332 Filed 3–28–18; 8:45 am]
13583
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Catherine A. Batey, Division
Administrator, Federal Highway
Administration, 3250 Executive Park
Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62703,
Phone: (217) 492–4600. Jeffrey L. Keirn,
Deputy Director of Highways, Region 5
Engineer, Illinois Department of
Transportation, 1102 Eastport Plaza
Drive, Collinsville, Illinois 62234,
Phone: (618) 346–3110.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
FHWA, in cooperation with the Illinois
Department of Transportation, issued a
notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS) in
2015 (80 FR 73871, November 25, 2015).
The project proposal was to improve
transportation between the identified
project termini.
The project is being cancelled and no
further activities will occur for the
Shawnee Parkway project at this time.
Comments or questions concerning
this notice should be directed to FHWA
or the Illinois Department of
Transportation at the addresses
provided above.
Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 23 CFR 771.123;
49 CFR 1.48
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
Program Number 20.205, Highway Research,
Planning and Construction. The regulations
implementing Executive Order 12372
regarding intergovernmental consultation on
Federal programs and activities apply to this
program.)
Issued on: March 9, 2018.
Catherine A. Batey,
Division Administrator, Springfield, Illinois.
[FR Doc. 2018–06329 Filed 3–28–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–22–P
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FRA–2018–0027]
Environmental Impact Statement:
Alexander, Pulaski, and Union
Counties, Illinois
Automation in the Railroad Industry
Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice to rescind a Notice of
Intent to prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement.
AGENCY:
The FHWA is issuing this
notice to advise the public that an
environmental impact statement will
not be prepared for a proposed
transportation project in Alexander,
Pulaski, and Union Counties, Illinois
between the intersection of Illinois
Route 3 with Illinois Route 146 and
Interstate 57.
SUMMARY:
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Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).
AGENCY:
This request for information
notice replaces the version published in
the Federal Register on March 22, 2018
(83 FR 12646), to make technical
corrections to the prior version. FRA
requests information and comment on
the future of automation in the railroad
industry. FRA is interested in hearing
from industry stakeholders, the public,
local and State governments, and any
other interested parties on the potential
benefits, costs, risks, and challenges to
SUMMARY:
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implementing automated railroad
operations. FRA also seeks comment on
how the agency can best support the
railroad industry’s development and
implementation of new and emerging
technologies in automation that could
lead to safety improvements or
increased efficiencies in railroad
operations.
DATES: Comments and information
responsive to this request should be
received by May 7, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit
information and comments identified by
the docket number FRA–2018–0027 by
any one of the following methods:
• Fax: 1–202–493–2251;
• Mail: U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations, M–
30, West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590;
• Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations,
West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m.
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays; or
• Electronically through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal, https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions must
include the agency name, docket name,
and docket number for this RFI (FRA–
2018–0027). Note that all comments and
data received in response to this RFI
will be posted without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. Please
see the Privacy Act heading in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of
this document for Privacy Act
information related to any submitted
comments or materials.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read comments received, go to https://
www.regulations.gov at any time or to
U.S. Department of Transportation,
Docket Operations, M–30, West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peter Cipriano, Special Assistant to the
Administrator, Federal Railroad
Administration, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590
(telephone: 202–493–6017),
peter.cipriano@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview
FRA seeks to understand the current
stage and development of automated
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railroad operations and how the agency
can best position itself to support the
integration and implementation of new
automation technologies to increase the
safety, reliability, and the capacity of
the nation’s railroad system. As in other
transportation modes, there are varying
levels of automation that already are, or
could potentially be, implemented in
the railroad industry. Currently, U.S.
passenger and freight railroads do not
have a fully autonomous rail operation
in revenue service, however, railroads
commonly use automated systems for
dispatching, meet and pass trip
planning, locomotive fuel trip time
optimization, and signaling and train
control. Railroads conduct many
switching and yard operations by
remote control and automated
equipment and track inspections
technologies are used to augment
manual inspection methods. Modern
locomotive cabs are equipped with
intelligent information systems
designed to provide operating crews
with up-to-date situational awareness as
train sensor data and alarms are
continuously updated and displayed in
operator consoles within the cab.
Railroads often now utilize energy
management technology (the equivalent
of automobile cruise-control) to
optimize fuel consumption based on
specific operational and equipment
factors, as well as movement planner
systems designed to optimize in realtime, train movements on the rail
network. Railroads are implementing
statutorily mandated positive train
control technology (a processor-based/
communications-based train control
system) to prevent train accidents by
automatically controlling train speeds
and movements if a train operator fails
to take appropriate action in certain
operational scenarios. These various
systems of automation and technologies
have transformed rail operations in
recent years, improving railroad
operational safety and efficiency.
FRA has helped developed many of
these technologies and enhancements to
these technologies are currently
underway to support more advanced
train control schemes and fully
autonomous operations. In the fall of
2017, the Association of American
Railroads, the freight rail industry’s
primary industry organization that
focuses on policy, research, standard
setting and technology, formed a
Technical Advisory Group on
autonomous train operations (ATO
TAG). The focus of the ATO TAG is to
define industry standards for an
interoperable system to support
enhanced safety and efficiency of
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autonomous train operations. The ATO
TAG intends to develop standardization
to support common interfaces and
functions, such that technology may be
applied in an interoperable fashion,
while also allowing some flexibility in
the specific design, implementation and
packaging of the technology.
Internationally, the only known fullyautonomous freight railroad system is in
Australia. The system is part of the
Australia Rio Tinto mining company
and began fully-autonomous train
operations on an approximately 62-mile
stretch of track in Western Australia.
This Rio Tinto train is equipped with a
variety of sensors (e.g., radar, cameras,
kangaroo collisions sensors) and with a
switch to toggle between autonomous
operation or operation with an operator
on board.
FRA seeks to understand the rail
industry’s plans for future development
and implementation of automated train
systems and technologies and the
industry’s plans and expectations
related to potential fully-automated rail
operations. FRA is specifically
interested in the anticipated benefits,
costs, risks, and challenges to achieving
the industry’s desired level of
automation. FRA also seeks to
understand how the rail industry’s
plans for future automation may affect
other stakeholders, including railroad
employees, the traveling public and
freight shipping industry, railroad
industry suppliers and equipment
manufacturers, communities through
which railroads operate, local and state
governments with roles in regulating
highway-rail grade crossing safety, and
any other interested parties.
FRA also seeks comment on the
appropriate taxonomy to use to provide
a baseline framework for the continued
development and implementation of
automated technology in the railroad
industry. For example, both SAE, for onroad vehicles, and the International
Association of Public Transport’s (UITP)
for public transit fixed guideway (rail)
have developed taxonomies for their
respective modes of transportation.
The SAE definitions divide vehicles
into levels based on ‘‘who does what,
when.’’ Generally:
• At SAE Level 0, the driver does
everything.
• At SAE Level 1, an automated
system on the vehicle can sometimes
assist the driver conduct some parts of
the driving task.
• At SAE Level 2, an automated
system on the vehicle can actually
conduct some parts of the driving task,
while the driver continues to monitor
the driving environment and performs
the rest of the driving task.
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• At SAE Level 3, an automated
system can both actually conduct some
parts of the driving task and monitor the
driving environment in some instances,
but the driver must be ready to take
back control when the automated
system requests.
• At SAE Level 4, an automated
system can conduct the driving task and
monitor the driving environment, and
the driver need not take back control,
but the automated system can operate
only in certain environments and under
certain conditions.
• At SAE Level 5, the automated
system can perform all driving tasks,
under all conditions that a driver could
perform them.
Using the SAE levels described above,
the Department has drawn a distinction
for non-road vehicles between Levels 0–
2 and 3–5 based on whether the human
driver or the automated system is
primarily responsible for monitoring the
driving environment.
Automatic Train Operation of public
transit fixed guideway (rail) systems is
an operational safety enhancement to
automate operations of trains. It is
mainly used on fixed guideway rail
systems which are easier to ensure
safety of agency staff and passengers.
Basically, each grade defines distinct
functions of train operation that are the
responsibility of agency staff and those
that are the responsibility of the rail
system itself.
Similar to SAE, UITP defines grades
of automation (GoA) for fixed guideway
(rail) systems. Generally:
• At UITP Grade 0, on-sight train
operation, similar to a streetcar running
in mixed traffic.
• At UITP Grade 1, manual train
operation where a train operator
controls starting and stopping, operation
of doors and handling of emergencies or
sudden diversions.
• At UITP Grade 2, semi-automatic
train operation where starting and
stopping is automated, but the train
operator or conductor controls the
doors, drives the train if needed and
handles emergencies (many ATO
systems worldwide are Grade 2),
• At UITP Grade 3, driverless train
operation where starting and stopping
are automated but a train attendant or
conductor controls the doors and drives
the train in case of emergencies.
• At UITP Grade 4, unattended train
operation where starting and stopping,
operation of doors and handling of
emergencies are fully automated
without any on-train staff.
FRA requests comment on whether
these or other taxonomies for
automation should be applied to
railroads.
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II. Questions Posed
Although FRA seeks comments and
relevant information and data on all
issues related to the development and
continued implementation of automated
train systems and technologies and
potentially fully autonomous train
operations, FRA specifically requests
comment and data in response to the
following questions:
General Questions
1. To what extent do railroads plan to
automate operations? Do railroads plan
to implement fully autonomous rail
vehicles (i.e., vehicles capable of
sensing their environments and
operating without human input)? If so,
for what types of operations?
2. How do commenters envision the
path to wide-scale development and
implementation of autonomous rail
operations (or operations increasingly
reliant on automated train systems or
technologies)? What is the potential
timeframe for technology prototype
availability for testing and for
deployment of such technologies?
3. As discussed above, the railroad
industry is currently taking steps in
developing standards for automation.
How does the railroad industry
currently define ‘‘autonomous
operations’’? Would it be helpful to
develop automated rail taxonomy; a
system of standards to clarify and define
different levels of automation in trains,
as currently exists for on-road vehicles
and rail transit? What, if any, efforts are
already under way to develop such rail
automation taxonomy? Should FRA
embrace any existing and defined levels
of automation in the railroad industry or
other transportation modes such as
highways or public transit? For
example, should FRA consider SAE
Standard J3016_201609 (see https://
standards.sae.org/j3016_201609/),
which provides for six GoA for on-road
vehicles, or the four GoA for public
transit fixed guideway vehicles?
4. What limitations and/or risks (e.g.,
practical, economic, safety, or other) are
already known or anticipated in
implementing these types of
technologies? How should the railroad
industry anticipate addressing these
limitations and/or risks, and what
efforts are currently underway to
address them? Are any mitigating efforts
expected in the future and what is the
timeline for such efforts?
5. What benefits and efficiencies (e.g.,
practical, economic, safety, or other) do
commenters anticipate that railroads
will be able to achieve by implementing
these technologies?
6. What societal benefits if any, could
be expected to result from the adoption
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13585
of these technologies (e.g.,
environmental, or noise reduction)?
What societal disadvantages could
occur?
7. What, if anything, is needed from
other railroad industry participants (e.g.,
rail equipment and infrastructure
suppliers, manufacturers, maintainers)
to support railroads’ automation efforts?
8. How does the state of automation
of U.S. railroad operations compare to
that of railroads in other countries?
What can be learned from automation
employed or under development in
other countries? What are the unique
characteristics of U.S. railroad
operations and/or infrastructure as
compared to railroads in other countries
that may affect the wide-scale
automation of railroad operations in this
country?
Safety and/or Security Issues
9. How do commenters believe these
technologies could increase rail safety?
10. What processes do railroads have
in place to identify potential safety and/
or security, including cybersecurity,
risks arising during the adoption of
these technologies and that may result
from the adoption of such technologies?
11. How should railroads plan to
ensure identified safety and/or security
risks are adequately addressed during
the development and implementation of
these new technologies? What is an
acceptable level of risk in this context?
12. How should railroads plan to
ensure the integration of these
technologies will not adversely affect,
and will instead improve, the safety
and/or security of railroad operations?
13. What are the safety and security
issues raised by automation in railroad
operations at public and private at-grade
highway-rail crossings? To what extent
should DOT coordinate with state or
local governmental entities on certain
safety or security issues? How might
automation improve the safety of the
general public at highway-rail grade
crossings or along the railroad rights-of
way?
14. How do railroads plan to ensure
safety and security from cyber risks?
15. How do the safety and/or security,
including cyber risks, faced by U.S.
railroads implementing these
technologies compare to the risks faced
by railroads operating in other
countries? How have railroads in other
countries addressed or mitigated these
risks? Are there opportunities for crossborder collaboration to address such
risks?
Infrastructure
16. What are the infrastructure needs
for effectively, safely, and securely
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implementing these technologies? FRA
is particularly interested in wayside,
communication, onboard, operating
personnel, testing, maintenance,
certification, and data infrastructure
needs, as well as any other expected or
anticipated infrastructure needs.
17. How can the nation’s existing rail
infrastructure be leveraged to support
the implementation of new
infrastructure, necessary for the
adoption of automated and autonomous
operations?
be leveraged to address future
government/industry research needs?
Workforce Viability
How do I prepare and submit
comments?
Your comments should be written and
in English. To ensure that your
comments are filed in the correct
docket, please include docket number
FRA–2018–0027 in your comments.
Please submit your comments to the
docket following the instruction given
above under ADDRESSES. If you are
submitting comments electronically as a
PDF (Adobe) file, we ask that the
document submitted be scanned using
an Optical Character Recognition
process, thus allowing FRA to search
your comments.
18. What is the potential impact of the
adoption of these technologies on the
existing railroad industry workforce?
19. Would the continued
implementation of these technologies,
including fully autonomous rail
vehicles, create new jobs and/or
eliminate the need for existing jobs in
the railroad industry?
20. What railroad employee training
needs would likely result from the
adoption of these technologies? For
example, if the technology fails en
route, will an onboard employee be
trained to take over operation of the
vehicle manually or be required to
repair the technology en route?
Legal/Regulatory Issues
21. What potential legal issues are
raised by the development and
implementation of autonomous train
systems and technologies within the
industry?
22. What are the regulatory challenges
(rail-specific or DOT-wide) that must be
addressed before autonomous rail
vehicles can be made a part of railroad
operations in the United States?
23. Are there current safety standards
and/or regulations that impede the
development and/or implementation of
automated train systems or technologies
in the railroad industry, including the
development and/or implementation of
autonomous rail vehicles? If so, what
are they and how should they be
addressed?
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Opportunities for Joint Government/
Industry Cooperation
24. Are there current or anticipated
railroad industry, private, international,
or State or local government pilot
projects or research initiatives involving
automated train systems or technologies
potentially in need of FRA support? If
so, what are the needs (e.g., regulatory,
technical)?
25. What data relevant to the
development and integration of
automated train systems and
technologies currently exists that could
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III. Public Participation
FRA invites all interested parties to
submit comments, data, and information
related to the specific questions listed in
Section II above and any other
comments, data, or information relevant
to issues related to the development and
implementation in the railroad industry
of new automated train systems or
technologies.
How do I request confidential treatment
of my submission?
Although FRA encourages the
submission of information that can be
freely and publicly shared, if you wish
to submit any information under a claim
of confidentiality, you must follow the
procedures in 49 CFR 209.11.
Will FRA consider late comments?
FRA will consider all comments
received before the close of business on
the comment closing date indicated
above under DATES. To the extent
possible, FRA will also consider
comments after that date.
How can I read the comments submitted
by other people?
You may read the comments received
at the address given above under
Comments. The hours of the docket are
indicated above in the same location.
You may also read the comments on the
internet, filed in the docket number at
the heading of this notice, at https://
www.regulations.gov.
Please note that, even after the
comment closing date, FRA will
continue to file any relevant information
it receives in the docket as it becomes
available. Further, some people may
submit late comments. Accordingly,
FRA recommends that you periodically
check the docket for new material.
IV. Privacy Act Statement
FRA notes that anyone is able to
search (at www.regulations.gov) the
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electronic form of all filings received
into any of DOT’s dockets by the name
of the individual submitting the filing
(or signing the filing, if submitted on
behalf of an association, business, labor
union, or other organization). You may
review DOT’s complete Privacy Act
Statement published in the Federal
Register on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65,
Number 70, Pages 19477–78), or you
may view the privacy notice of
regulations.gov at https://
www.regulations.gov/#!privacyNotice.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20101 et seq.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 23,
2018.
Brett A. Jortland,
Acting Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2018–06281 Filed 3–28–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–06–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Multiple
TTB Information Collection Requests
Departmental Offices, U.S.
Department of the Treasury.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of the
Treasury will submit the following
information collection requests to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the
date of publication of this notice. The
public is invited to submit comments on
these requests.
DATES: Comments should be received on
or before April 30, 2018 to be assured
of consideration.
ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding
the burden estimate, or any other aspect
of the information collection, including
suggestions for reducing the burden, to
(1) Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for
Treasury, New Executive Office
Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC
20503, or email at OIRA_Submission@
OMB.EOP.gov and (2) Treasury PRA
Clearance Officer, 1750 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW, Suite 8142, Washington, DC
20220, or email at PRA@treasury.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Copies of the submissions may be
obtained from Jennifer Quintana by
emailing PRA@treasury.gov, calling
(202) 622–0489, or viewing the entire
information collection request at
www.reginfo.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13583-13586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06281]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket No. FRA-2018-0027]
Automation in the Railroad Industry
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This request for information notice replaces the version
published in the Federal Register on March 22, 2018 (83 FR 12646), to
make technical corrections to the prior version. FRA requests
information and comment on the future of automation in the railroad
industry. FRA is interested in hearing from industry stakeholders, the
public, local and State governments, and any other interested parties
on the potential benefits, costs, risks, and challenges to
[[Page 13584]]
implementing automated railroad operations. FRA also seeks comment on
how the agency can best support the railroad industry's development and
implementation of new and emerging technologies in automation that
could lead to safety improvements or increased efficiencies in railroad
operations.
DATES: Comments and information responsive to this request should be
received by May 7, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit information and comments identified by the
docket number FRA-2018-0027 by any one of the following methods:
Fax: 1-202-493-2251;
Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590;
Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket
Operations, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays; or
Electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal,
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name, docket
name, and docket number for this RFI (FRA-2018-0027). Note that all
comments and data received in response to this RFI will be posted
without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document for Privacy Act
information related to any submitted comments or materials.
Docket: For access to the docket to read comments received, go to
https://www.regulations.gov at any time or to U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m.
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Cipriano, Special Assistant to
the Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: 202-493-6017),
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview
FRA seeks to understand the current stage and development of
automated railroad operations and how the agency can best position
itself to support the integration and implementation of new automation
technologies to increase the safety, reliability, and the capacity of
the nation's railroad system. As in other transportation modes, there
are varying levels of automation that already are, or could potentially
be, implemented in the railroad industry. Currently, U.S. passenger and
freight railroads do not have a fully autonomous rail operation in
revenue service, however, railroads commonly use automated systems for
dispatching, meet and pass trip planning, locomotive fuel trip time
optimization, and signaling and train control. Railroads conduct many
switching and yard operations by remote control and automated equipment
and track inspections technologies are used to augment manual
inspection methods. Modern locomotive cabs are equipped with
intelligent information systems designed to provide operating crews
with up-to-date situational awareness as train sensor data and alarms
are continuously updated and displayed in operator consoles within the
cab. Railroads often now utilize energy management technology (the
equivalent of automobile cruise-control) to optimize fuel consumption
based on specific operational and equipment factors, as well as
movement planner systems designed to optimize in real-time, train
movements on the rail network. Railroads are implementing statutorily
mandated positive train control technology (a processor-based/
communications-based train control system) to prevent train accidents
by automatically controlling train speeds and movements if a train
operator fails to take appropriate action in certain operational
scenarios. These various systems of automation and technologies have
transformed rail operations in recent years, improving railroad
operational safety and efficiency.
FRA has helped developed many of these technologies and
enhancements to these technologies are currently underway to support
more advanced train control schemes and fully autonomous operations. In
the fall of 2017, the Association of American Railroads, the freight
rail industry's primary industry organization that focuses on policy,
research, standard setting and technology, formed a Technical Advisory
Group on autonomous train operations (ATO TAG). The focus of the ATO
TAG is to define industry standards for an interoperable system to
support enhanced safety and efficiency of autonomous train operations.
The ATO TAG intends to develop standardization to support common
interfaces and functions, such that technology may be applied in an
interoperable fashion, while also allowing some flexibility in the
specific design, implementation and packaging of the technology.
Internationally, the only known fully-autonomous freight railroad
system is in Australia. The system is part of the Australia Rio Tinto
mining company and began fully-autonomous train operations on an
approximately 62-mile stretch of track in Western Australia. This Rio
Tinto train is equipped with a variety of sensors (e.g., radar,
cameras, kangaroo collisions sensors) and with a switch to toggle
between autonomous operation or operation with an operator on board.
FRA seeks to understand the rail industry's plans for future
development and implementation of automated train systems and
technologies and the industry's plans and expectations related to
potential fully-automated rail operations. FRA is specifically
interested in the anticipated benefits, costs, risks, and challenges to
achieving the industry's desired level of automation. FRA also seeks to
understand how the rail industry's plans for future automation may
affect other stakeholders, including railroad employees, the traveling
public and freight shipping industry, railroad industry suppliers and
equipment manufacturers, communities through which railroads operate,
local and state governments with roles in regulating highway-rail grade
crossing safety, and any other interested parties.
FRA also seeks comment on the appropriate taxonomy to use to
provide a baseline framework for the continued development and
implementation of automated technology in the railroad industry. For
example, both SAE, for on-road vehicles, and the International
Association of Public Transport's (UITP) for public transit fixed
guideway (rail) have developed taxonomies for their respective modes of
transportation.
The SAE definitions divide vehicles into levels based on ``who does
what, when.'' Generally:
At SAE Level 0, the driver does everything.
At SAE Level 1, an automated system on the vehicle can
sometimes assist the driver conduct some parts of the driving task.
At SAE Level 2, an automated system on the vehicle can
actually conduct some parts of the driving task, while the driver
continues to monitor the driving environment and performs the rest of
the driving task.
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At SAE Level 3, an automated system can both actually
conduct some parts of the driving task and monitor the driving
environment in some instances, but the driver must be ready to take
back control when the automated system requests.
At SAE Level 4, an automated system can conduct the
driving task and monitor the driving environment, and the driver need
not take back control, but the automated system can operate only in
certain environments and under certain conditions.
At SAE Level 5, the automated system can perform all
driving tasks, under all conditions that a driver could perform them.
Using the SAE levels described above, the Department has drawn a
distinction for non-road vehicles between Levels 0-2 and 3-5 based on
whether the human driver or the automated system is primarily
responsible for monitoring the driving environment.
Automatic Train Operation of public transit fixed guideway (rail)
systems is an operational safety enhancement to automate operations of
trains. It is mainly used on fixed guideway rail systems which are
easier to ensure safety of agency staff and passengers. Basically, each
grade defines distinct functions of train operation that are the
responsibility of agency staff and those that are the responsibility of
the rail system itself.
Similar to SAE, UITP defines grades of automation (GoA) for fixed
guideway (rail) systems. Generally:
At UITP Grade 0, on-sight train operation, similar to a
streetcar running in mixed traffic.
At UITP Grade 1, manual train operation where a train
operator controls starting and stopping, operation of doors and
handling of emergencies or sudden diversions.
At UITP Grade 2, semi-automatic train operation where
starting and stopping is automated, but the train operator or conductor
controls the doors, drives the train if needed and handles emergencies
(many ATO systems worldwide are Grade 2),
At UITP Grade 3, driverless train operation where starting
and stopping are automated but a train attendant or conductor controls
the doors and drives the train in case of emergencies.
At UITP Grade 4, unattended train operation where starting
and stopping, operation of doors and handling of emergencies are fully
automated without any on-train staff.
FRA requests comment on whether these or other taxonomies for
automation should be applied to railroads.
II. Questions Posed
Although FRA seeks comments and relevant information and data on
all issues related to the development and continued implementation of
automated train systems and technologies and potentially fully
autonomous train operations, FRA specifically requests comment and data
in response to the following questions:
General Questions
1. To what extent do railroads plan to automate operations? Do
railroads plan to implement fully autonomous rail vehicles (i.e.,
vehicles capable of sensing their environments and operating without
human input)? If so, for what types of operations?
2. How do commenters envision the path to wide-scale development
and implementation of autonomous rail operations (or operations
increasingly reliant on automated train systems or technologies)? What
is the potential timeframe for technology prototype availability for
testing and for deployment of such technologies?
3. As discussed above, the railroad industry is currently taking
steps in developing standards for automation. How does the railroad
industry currently define ``autonomous operations''? Would it be
helpful to develop automated rail taxonomy; a system of standards to
clarify and define different levels of automation in trains, as
currently exists for on-road vehicles and rail transit? What, if any,
efforts are already under way to develop such rail automation taxonomy?
Should FRA embrace any existing and defined levels of automation in the
railroad industry or other transportation modes such as highways or
public transit? For example, should FRA consider SAE Standard
J3016_201609 (see https://standards.sae.org/j3016_201609/), which
provides for six GoA for on-road vehicles, or the four GoA for public
transit fixed guideway vehicles?
4. What limitations and/or risks (e.g., practical, economic,
safety, or other) are already known or anticipated in implementing
these types of technologies? How should the railroad industry
anticipate addressing these limitations and/or risks, and what efforts
are currently underway to address them? Are any mitigating efforts
expected in the future and what is the timeline for such efforts?
5. What benefits and efficiencies (e.g., practical, economic,
safety, or other) do commenters anticipate that railroads will be able
to achieve by implementing these technologies?
6. What societal benefits if any, could be expected to result from
the adoption of these technologies (e.g., environmental, or noise
reduction)? What societal disadvantages could occur?
7. What, if anything, is needed from other railroad industry
participants (e.g., rail equipment and infrastructure suppliers,
manufacturers, maintainers) to support railroads' automation efforts?
8. How does the state of automation of U.S. railroad operations
compare to that of railroads in other countries? What can be learned
from automation employed or under development in other countries? What
are the unique characteristics of U.S. railroad operations and/or
infrastructure as compared to railroads in other countries that may
affect the wide-scale automation of railroad operations in this
country?
Safety and/or Security Issues
9. How do commenters believe these technologies could increase rail
safety?
10. What processes do railroads have in place to identify potential
safety and/or security, including cybersecurity, risks arising during
the adoption of these technologies and that may result from the
adoption of such technologies?
11. How should railroads plan to ensure identified safety and/or
security risks are adequately addressed during the development and
implementation of these new technologies? What is an acceptable level
of risk in this context?
12. How should railroads plan to ensure the integration of these
technologies will not adversely affect, and will instead improve, the
safety and/or security of railroad operations?
13. What are the safety and security issues raised by automation in
railroad operations at public and private at-grade highway-rail
crossings? To what extent should DOT coordinate with state or local
governmental entities on certain safety or security issues? How might
automation improve the safety of the general public at highway-rail
grade crossings or along the railroad rights-of way?
14. How do railroads plan to ensure safety and security from cyber
risks?
15. How do the safety and/or security, including cyber risks, faced
by U.S. railroads implementing these technologies compare to the risks
faced by railroads operating in other countries? How have railroads in
other countries addressed or mitigated these risks? Are there
opportunities for cross-border collaboration to address such risks?
Infrastructure
16. What are the infrastructure needs for effectively, safely, and
securely
[[Page 13586]]
implementing these technologies? FRA is particularly interested in
wayside, communication, onboard, operating personnel, testing,
maintenance, certification, and data infrastructure needs, as well as
any other expected or anticipated infrastructure needs.
17. How can the nation's existing rail infrastructure be leveraged
to support the implementation of new infrastructure, necessary for the
adoption of automated and autonomous operations?
Workforce Viability
18. What is the potential impact of the adoption of these
technologies on the existing railroad industry workforce?
19. Would the continued implementation of these technologies,
including fully autonomous rail vehicles, create new jobs and/or
eliminate the need for existing jobs in the railroad industry?
20. What railroad employee training needs would likely result from
the adoption of these technologies? For example, if the technology
fails en route, will an onboard employee be trained to take over
operation of the vehicle manually or be required to repair the
technology en route?
Legal/Regulatory Issues
21. What potential legal issues are raised by the development and
implementation of autonomous train systems and technologies within the
industry?
22. What are the regulatory challenges (rail-specific or DOT-wide)
that must be addressed before autonomous rail vehicles can be made a
part of railroad operations in the United States?
23. Are there current safety standards and/or regulations that
impede the development and/or implementation of automated train systems
or technologies in the railroad industry, including the development
and/or implementation of autonomous rail vehicles? If so, what are they
and how should they be addressed?
Opportunities for Joint Government/Industry Cooperation
24. Are there current or anticipated railroad industry, private,
international, or State or local government pilot projects or research
initiatives involving automated train systems or technologies
potentially in need of FRA support? If so, what are the needs (e.g.,
regulatory, technical)?
25. What data relevant to the development and integration of
automated train systems and technologies currently exists that could be
leveraged to address future government/industry research needs?
III. Public Participation
FRA invites all interested parties to submit comments, data, and
information related to the specific questions listed in Section II
above and any other comments, data, or information relevant to issues
related to the development and implementation in the railroad industry
of new automated train systems or technologies.
How do I prepare and submit comments?
Your comments should be written and in English. To ensure that your
comments are filed in the correct docket, please include docket number
FRA-2018-0027 in your comments.
Please submit your comments to the docket following the instruction
given above under ADDRESSES. If you are submitting comments
electronically as a PDF (Adobe) file, we ask that the document
submitted be scanned using an Optical Character Recognition process,
thus allowing FRA to search your comments.
How do I request confidential treatment of my submission?
Although FRA encourages the submission of information that can be
freely and publicly shared, if you wish to submit any information under
a claim of confidentiality, you must follow the procedures in 49 CFR
209.11.
Will FRA consider late comments?
FRA will consider all comments received before the close of
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To
the extent possible, FRA will also consider comments after that date.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the comments received at the address given above under
Comments. The hours of the docket are indicated above in the same
location. You may also read the comments on the internet, filed in the
docket number at the heading of this notice, at https://www.regulations.gov.
Please note that, even after the comment closing date, FRA will
continue to file any relevant information it receives in the docket as
it becomes available. Further, some people may submit late comments.
Accordingly, FRA recommends that you periodically check the docket for
new material.
IV. Privacy Act Statement
FRA notes that anyone is able to search (at www.regulations.gov)
the electronic form of all filings received into any of DOT's dockets
by the name of the individual submitting the filing (or signing the
filing, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor
union, or other organization). You may review DOT's complete Privacy
Act Statement published in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000
(Volume 65, Number 70, Pages 19477-78), or you may view the privacy
notice of regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/#!privacyNotice.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20101 et seq.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 23, 2018.
Brett A. Jortland,
Acting Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2018-06281 Filed 3-28-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
