Federal Railroad Administration December 15, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 16, 2008, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published a Notice of Funds Availability in the Federal Register. (FR Vol. 73, No. 201/Thursday October 16, 2008, pg 61449) In that Notice, FRA solicited applications from eligible applicants for $45 million authorized by section 1307 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) for preconstruction activities and capital costs of fixed guideway infrastructure of maglev projects east of the Mississippi River. (That notice and this notice do not apply to the maglev project between Las Vegas and Primm, NV.) Based upon the Joint Explanatory Statement of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Congress explained its intent ``to limit the eligible projects to three existing projects east of the Mississippi River: Pittsburgh, Baltimore-Washington, and Atlanta- Chattanooga.'' Proponents of eligible projects have requested meetings with FRA to clarify the application requirements. Because of the competitive nature of the application process, FRA will hold an open meeting where interested proponents of any of these three projects might discuss application requirements with FRA, in a forum that will permit proponents of all eligible projects to benefit from these discussions. All questions and responses will be available in summary form on FRA's Web site after the meeting.