4910-06-P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA-2010-0029]
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation’s Request to Amend Its Positive
Train Control Safety Plan and 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 July 1, 2024, the
National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) submitted a request for amendment
(RFA) to its FRA-approved Positive Train Control Safety Plan (PTCSP) to request
approval for a planned positive train control (PTC) system outage of its Mixed System
PTC system for maintenance purposes during the month of August 2024. As this RFA
may involve a request for FRA’s approval of proposed material modifications to an FRAcertified positive train control (PTC) system, FRA is publishing this notice and inviting
public comment on Amtrak’s RFA to its PTCSP.
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-2010-0029. 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 PTCSP, a host railroad must
submit, and obtain FRA’s approval of, an RFA to its 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 July 1, 2024,
Amtrak submitted an RFA to its PTCSP for its Mixed System PTC system, which is
comprised of the Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS), seeking
FRA’s approval for a temporary outage of the system to perform an update to the Back
Office Server (BOS) in August 2024. That RFA is available in Docket No. FRA-20100029.
Interested parties are invited to comment on Amtrak’s RFA to its PTCSP by
submitting written comments or data. During FRA’s review of Amtrak’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 to its PTCSP 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. 2024-15270 Filed: 7/10/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/11/2024]