4910-06-P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA-2010-0048]
Southern California Regional Rail Authority’s Request to Amend Its Positive Train
Control System
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of Transportation
(DOT).
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
SUMMARY: This document provides the public with notice that, on June 7, 2024, the
Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) submitted a request for
amendment (RFA) to its FRA-certified positive train control (PTC) system. FRA is
publishing this notice and inviting public comment on the railroad’s RFA to its PTC
system.
DATES: FRA will consider comments received by [INSERT DATE 20 DAYS AFTER
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]. FRA may consider
comments received after that date to the extent practicable and without delaying
implementation of valuable or necessary modifications to a PTC system.
ADDRESSES: Comments: Comments may be submitted by going to
https://www.regulations.gov and following the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and the applicable
docket number. The relevant PTC docket number for this host railroad is Docket No.
FRA-2010-0048. For convenience, all active PTC dockets are hyperlinked on FRA’s
website at https://railroads.dot.gov/research-development/program-areas/traincontrol/ptc/railroads-ptc-dockets. All comments received will be posted without change

to https://www.regulations.gov; this includes any personal information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gabe Neal, Staff Director, Signal,
Train Control, and Crossings Division, telephone: 816-516-7168, e-mail:
Gabe.Neal@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In general, Title 49 United States Code
(U.S.C.) Section 20157(h) requires FRA to certify that a host railroad’s PTC system
complies with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 236, subpart I, before the
technology may be operated in revenue service. Before making certain changes to an
FRA-certified PTC system or the associated FRA-approved PTC Safety Plan (PTCSP), a
host railroad must submit, and obtain FRA’s approval of, an RFA to its PTC system or
PTCSP under 49 CFR 236.1021.
Under 49 CFR 236.1021(e), FRA’s regulations provide that FRA will publish a
notice in the Federal Register and invite public comment in accordance with 49 CFR part
211, if an RFA includes a request for approval of a material modification of a signal or
train control system. Accordingly, this notice informs the public that, on June 7, 2024,
Metrolink submitted an RFA to its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System
(I-ETMS), which seeks FRA’s approval of a temporary I-ETMS outage to support prerevenue service vehicle acceptance testing on a new vehicle type. That RFA is available
in Docket No. FRA-2010-0048.
Interested parties are invited to comment on Metrolink’s RFA by submitting
written comments or data. During FRA’s review of this railroad’s RFA, FRA will
consider any comments or data submitted within the timeline specified in this notice and
to the extent practicable, without delaying implementation of valuable or necessary
modifications to a PTC system. See 49 CFR 236.1021; see also 49 CFR 236.1011(e).
Under 49 CFR 236.1021, FRA maintains the authority to approve, approve with
conditions, or deny a railroad’s RFA at FRA’s sole discretion.

Privacy Act Notice
In accordance with 49 CFR 211.3, FRA solicits comments from the public to
better inform its decisions. 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.transportation.gov/privacy. See https://www.regulations.gov/privacynotice for the privacy notice of regulations.gov. To facilitate comment tracking, we
encourage commenters to provide their name, or the name of their organization; however,
submission of names is completely optional. If you wish to provide comments containing
proprietary or confidential information, please contact FRA for alternate submission
instructions.
Issued in Washington, D.C.

Carolyn R. Hayward-Williams,
Director,
Office of Railroad Systems and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2024-13482 Filed: 6/18/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/20/2024]