Federal Railroad Administration November 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that FRA with the California High Speed Rail Authority (Authority) will jointly prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) and programmatic (program) environmental impact report (EIR) for the San Francisco Bay Area to Central Valley portion of the California High- Speed Train (HST) System in compliance with state and Federal laws, in particular the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). FRA is also issuing this notice to solicit public and agency input into the development of the scope of the Bay Area to Central Valley HST Program EIR/EIS and to advise the public that outreach activities conducted by the Authority and its representatives will be considered in the preparation of the EIR/EIS. The FRA and the Authority recently completed a Program EIR/EIS as the first-phase of a tiered environmental review process for the Proposed California HST system, and as part of the selected HST Alternative defined a broad corridor between the Bay Area and Central Valley generally bounded by (and including) the Pacheco Pass (SR-152) to the South, the Altamont Pass (I-580) to the North, the BNSF Corridor to the East, and the Caltrain Corridor to the West. The Bay Area to Central Valley HST Program EIR/EIS will further examine this broad corridor as the next phase of the tiered environmental review process.

FRA is amending the Federal Track Safety Standards to improve the inspection of rail joints in continuous welded rail (CWR). This interim final rule (IFR) requires track owners to develop and implement a procedure for the detailed inspection of rail joints in CWR. This IFR also requires track owners to keep records of those inspections.