Federal Railroad Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under FRA's accident/incident reporting regulation, railroads are required to report to FRA all rail equipment accidents/incidents above the monetary reporting threshold (reporting threshold) applicable to that calendar year. FRA proposes to amend this regulation to modify the way it calculates periodic adjustments to the reporting threshold.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice announces that FRA is forwarding the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the information collection and its expected burden. On October 26, 2018, FRA published a notice providing a 60-day period for public comment on the ICR.

On November 21, 2018, FRA published a final rule amending FRA's passenger equipment safety standards. In preparing the final rule for publication, an error was made that led to the inadvertent removal of rule text. FRA is correcting that minor error to restore the rule text so that the final rule clearly conforms to FRA's intent.

FRA announces the fifty-eighth meeting of the RSAC, a Federal Advisory Committee that develops railroad safety regulations through a consensus process.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing regulations, FRA seeks approval of the Information Collection Requests (ICRs) abstracted below. Before submitting these ICRs to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval, FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.

This Notice announces the establishment of FRA's emergency relief docket (ERD) for calendar year 2019. The designated ERD for calendar year 2019 is docket number FRA-2019-0001.

This notification of determination announces FRA's minimum annual random drug and minimum annual random alcohol testing rates for covered employees and for maintenance-of-way (MOW) employees for calendar year 2019.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is issuing this notice to advise the public that FRA is rescinding the Notices of Intent (NOI) for the following Environmental Impact Statements (EIS): The Pennsylvania Maglev Proposal; the Tupelo Railroad Relocation Planning and Environmental Study; the Tier 2 EIS for the Chicago to Joliet High-Speed Rail (HSR) Project; the Tier 2 EIS for the HSR Project between Granite City, IL to St. Louis, MO HSR Project; EIS for the ACEforward Program; EIS for the Milwaukee, WI to Minneapolis, MN Rail Corridor; 7) the Los Angeles to San Louis Obispo North (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Project; and 8) the Chicago to Detroit/Pontiac Corridor Investment Program.

This final rule amends FRA's passenger equipment safety standards using a performance-based approach to adopt new and modified requirements governing the construction of conventional- and high-speed passenger rail equipment. This final rule adds a new tier of passenger equipment safety standards (Tier III) to facilitate the safe implementation of nation-wide, interoperable high-speed passenger rail service at speeds up to 220 mph. While Tier III trainsets must operate in an exclusive right-of-way without grade crossings at speeds above 125 mph, these trainsets can share the right-of-way with freight trains and other tiers of passenger equipment at speeds not exceeding 125 mph. This final rule also establishes crashworthiness and occupant protection performance requirements in the alternative to those currently specified for Tier I passenger trainsets. Together, the Tier III requirements and Tier I alternative crashworthiness and occupant protection requirements remove regulatory barriers and enable use of new technological designs, allowing a more open U.S. rail market. Additionally, the final rule increases from 150 mph to 160 mph the maximum speed for passenger equipment that complies with FRA's Tier II requirements.