http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=99-33926-filed

[Federal Register: December 30, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 250)]

[Notices] [Page 73602-73603]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr30de99-162]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration [Docket No. FRA-1999-6404]

Extension of Comment Period; Petition for Grandfathering of Non- Compliant Equipment National Railroad Passenger Corporation

On October 18, 1999, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for grandfathering of non-compliant passenger equipment manufactured by Renfe Talgo of America (Talgo) for use on rail lines between Vancouver, British Columbia and Eugene, Oregon; between Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California; and between San Diego, California and San Luis Obispo, California. Notice of receipt of such petition was published in the Federal Register on November 2, 1999, at 64 FR 5920. Interested parties were invited to comment on the petition before the end of the comment period of December 2, 1999.

On December 2, 1999, FRA extended the comment period in this proceeding until December 15, 1999, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that certain items in FRA files referenced in Amtrak's petition be made available for review (see 64 FR 68195; Dec. 6, 1999). Talgo has objected to released of certain of the requested information under FOIA exemption 4 (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), which exempts from release trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential. On December 15, 1999, FRA further extended the comment period in this proceeding until 10:00 a.m. on December 27, 1999 to enable FRA to finalize its response to the FOIA request, and to permit the responder time to analyze the documents released by FRA (see 64 FR 71846; Dec. 22, 1999).

Unfortunately, processing the FOIA request has taken longer than anticipated; FRA released documents on November 30, December 10, and December 21. FRA has redacted from the documents released information that is protected under FOIA exemption 4. On December 13, the FOIA requester again asked FRA to further extend the comment period so that the requester would have 15 days after receipt of all

[[Page 73603]]

of the requested documents to analyze the documents and prepare comments on the grandfather petition. FRA has agreed to this request and has extended the comment period to the close of business on January 10, 2000. FRA expects that further extensions of the comment period will not be necessary.

FRA has placed in the docket a copy of all the documents provided to the FOIA requester. FRA has also placed in the docket several documents that it received from Talgo that are relevant to the Amtrak petition. Two of these documents contain comments or corrections to the minutes of the June 17, 1999 meeting between FRA, Amtrak and Talgo; the minutes of this meeting was one of the documents released to the FOIA requester. Another document contains weld information pertaining to the Talgo equipment. The remaining documents contain design changes to the Talgo equipment requested by FRA. Talgo has requested confidential treatment, under exemption 4 of FOIA, for certain information in the documents. FRA has redacted from the Talgo documents information that is protected by exemption 4. Unredacted versions of all of the documents placed in the docket are available to agency staff and will be used in the agency's review of the Amtrak petition to the extent deemed necessary. Comments received after January 10, 2000 will be considered to the extent possible. Comments received after January 10, 2000 will be considered to the extent possible. Amtrak's petition, documents inserted in the docket, and all written communications concerning this proceeding are available for examination during regular business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) at DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 Seventh, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590-0001. All documents in the public docket are also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at the docket facility's Web site at http://dms.dot.gov.

Issued in Washington, DC, on December 23, 1999. Grady C. Cothen, Jr., Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development. [FR Doc. 99-33926 Filed 12-29-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-06-M

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

wow!

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 07, 2000.

Yep, and this was Dec 30th!

...who said something about a year of testing????

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 08, 2000.

I think this isn't about Y2K compliance. Collision impact survivability regulation compliance, maybe.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), January 08, 2000.