81 FR 28140 - Agency Request for Regular Processing of Collection of Information by the Office of Management and Budget

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 89 (May 9, 2016)

Consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing regulations, this document provides notice that FRA is submitting the following Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect information on railroads' implementation of positive train control (PTC) systems on a quarterly form. FRA requests regular processing and OMB authorization to collect the information on the quarterly form identified below 30 days after publication of this notice for a period of three years.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 89 (Monday, May 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28140-28153]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10831]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA-2016-0002-N-13]


Agency Request for Regular Processing of Collection of 
Information by the Office of Management and Budget

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), United States Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and 
its implementing regulations, this document provides notice that FRA is 
submitting the following Information Collection Request (ICR) to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect information on 
railroads' implementation of positive train control (PTC) systems on a 
quarterly form. FRA requests regular processing and OMB authorization 
to collect the information on the quarterly form identified below 30 
days after publication of this notice for a period of three years.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of this ICR, with any public 
applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by calling FRA's 
Office of Safety Information Collection Clearance Officer, Robert 
Brogan at (202) 493-6292, or FRA's Office of Administration Information 
Collection Clearance Officer, Kimberly Toone at (202) 493-6132; these 
numbers are not toll-free; or by contacting Mr. Brogan via facsimile at 
(202) 493-6216 or Ms. Toone via facsimile at (202) 493-6497, or via 
email by contacting Mr. Brogan at [email protected], or by 
contacting Ms. Toone at [email protected]. Comments or questions about 
any aspect of this ICR should be directed to OMB's Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: FRA OMB Desk Officer.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Under 49 U.S.C. 20157, as amended by the Positive Train Control 
Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015 (PTCEI Act), FRA must 
conduct compliance reviews, at least annually, to ensure each railroad 
is complying with its revised PTC implementation plan (PTCIP). The 
PTCEI Act requires railroads to provide information to FRA that FRA 
determines is necessary to adequately conduct such compliance reviews. 
See 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2).
    To effectively monitor industry's implementation of PTC systems, 
FRA is proposing to require each subject railroad to submit quarterly 
reports on its implementation progress, in addition to the annual 
progress reports the PTCEI Act mandated, under FRA's statutory and 
regulatory investigative authorities. See 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2); see 
also 49 U.S.C. 20107, 20902; 49 CFR 236.1009(h). Specifically, FRA is 
proposing that, in addition to the annual report due each March 31 
under 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(1), railroads must provide quarterly progress 
reports covering the preceding three-month period and submit the forms 
to FRA on the dates in the following table until full PTC system 
implementation is completed:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Due dates for
                                 Coverage period      quarterly reports
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1..........................  January 1-March 31..  June 30, 2016, and
                                                     each April 30
                                                     thereafter.
Q2..........................  April 1-June 30.....  July 31.
Q3..........................  July 1-September 30.  October 31.
Q4..........................  October 1--December   January 31.
                               31.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRA delayed the due date for submitting the first quarterly report to 
allow time for the normal 60 days of notice and public comment to FRA, 
and the additional 30 days of public comment to OMB while the 
submission undergoes OMB review as required under the PRA and its 
concomitant regulations. See 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520; 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), 
1320.10(e)(1), 1320.12(a).
    FRA is proposing that each railroad must submit its quarterly 
progress reports on Form FRA F 6180.165 using FRA's Secure Information 
Repository (SIR) at https://sir.fra.dot.gov. FRA is proposing to let 
the less detailed monthly reporting that it currently requires 
(approved under OMB No. 2130-0553) expire in June 2016 when railroads 
would be required to begin providing the quarterly progress reports.

II. Public Participation

    On March 7, 2016, FRA published a notice in the Federal Register 
seeking public comment on the proposed Quarterly PTC Progress Report 
Form. 81 FR 11878, Mar. 7, 2016. By letter dated April 12, 2016, the 
Association of American Railroads (AAR) submitted comments on behalf of 
itself and its member railroads. By letter and email

[[Page 28141]]

responses dated April 12, 2016, the American Public Transportation 
Association (APTA) provided comments from Metra, the Utah Transit 
Authority, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of 
Oregon, and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority.
    On April 19, 2016, FRA held a meeting on the proposed Quarterly PTC 
Progress Report Form to offer the affected regulated entities a forum 
to provide additional comments and feedback to FRA. Representatives 
from, and members of, AAR, APTA, and the American Short Line and 
Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) attended the meeting. FRA will 
publish minutes from the meeting in the docket as soon as practicable.
    FRA received the following summarized comments on the version of 
the Quarterly PTC Progress Report that FRA proposed on March 7, 2016. 
81 FR 11878. FRA has modified the proposed form based on the industry's 
comments and requests for clarification in those comments and in the 
meeting discussed above. The revised form that FRA will submit to OMB 
for review and approval is attached to this notice.

A. Comments on Section 1--Summary

    AAR commented that the column heading ``Quantity Completed As of 
Applicable Quarter'' in the summary section was unclear and asked FRA 
to clarify whether that column refers to the quantity completed for the 
year as of the end of the quarter or just the quantity completed during 
the particular quarter. In response, FRA modified the heading to read 
``Cumulative Quantity Completed to Date'' to clarify that FRA wants 
each railroad to provide a running cumulative total in the high-level 
summary table.
    At the public meeting, CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX) asked whether 
the row ``Locomotives Fully Equipped'' refers to locomotives with all 
necessary hardware installed or to locomotives with all necessary 
hardware installed that are mission capable and could begin operating 
in PTC service. FRA added the words ``and PTC operable'' to clarify its 
intent.
    Additionally, FRA eliminated the rows ``Back Office Locations 
Completely Installed and Fully Operable'' and ``Dispatching Locations 
Completely Installed and Fully Operable'' from the summary section, as 
AAR requested.
    Because several commenters requested FRA to make the Quarterly PTC 
Progress Report consistent with the Annual PTC Progress Report FRA 
published (see https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L17366) as much as 
possible (where the questions overlap), FRA also added a comment box to 
the summary section and quantitative rows entitled ``Route Miles in 
Testing or Revenue Service Demonstration'' and ``Route Miles in PTC 
Operation.''

B. Comments on Section 2--Quarterly Update on Spectrum

    Based on AAR's and ASLRRA's comments at the public meeting that 
spectrum is difficult to quantify in the manner requested in the 
proposed form, FRA modified the quarterly form so a railroad can simply 
identify a spectrum coverage area and select from a dropdown menu the 
applicable status: Not acquired/not available for use; acquired but not 
available for use; or acquired and available for use.
    AAR asked FRA to clarify whether the section on spectrum is asking 
for a report about only the spectrum coverage missing and left to 
acquire or about all spectrum coverage. FRA clarified at the public 
meeting and in the soon-to-be-posted meeting minutes that a railroad 
should base its progress report on the information it provided in its 
revised PTCIP. The PTCEI Act required each railroad to identify in its 
revised PTCIP the calendar year(s) when spectrum will be acquired and 
will be available for use in each area as needed for PTC 
implementation, if such spectrum was not already acquired and available 
for use. 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(2)(A)(iii)(I). To make the form clearer, 
FRA added a footnote to the spectrum table, explaining that if the 
railroad reported in its revised PTCIP it had acquired all necessary 
spectrum and it was available for use, or the railroad's technology 
does not require the use of spectrum, the railroad should indicate ``N/
A'' in this table.
    Based on AAR's request, FRA also added a comment box to the 
spectrum section so railroads can provide additional information or 
explanation.

C. Comments on Section 3--Quarterly Update on Major Installations

    AAR, CSX, and Metra commented that FRA should delete the row 
entitled ``Software for Train Management and Other Applications'' from 
the table in Section 3 because software installation is not readily 
quantifiable. AAR specifically commented that ``PTC software is 
versioned repeatedly over the course of the year with each release of 
defect remediation and improved functionality.'' Based on these 
concerns, FRA deleted the quantitative category for software 
installation and instead added a comment box for software, specifically 
requesting each railroad to ``describe (1) the railroad's approach to 
installation of PTC software on its locomotive fleet, and (2) any 
issues the railroad is experiencing with installed versions of train 
management software (e.g., reverting back to previous software versions 
due to errors in the current version).''
    With respect to the locomotive hardware installation table in 
Section 3, AAR commented that the ``number of antennas, event 
recorders, displays, and other components [including GPS receivers] 
tells the FRA nothing relevant about how close that railroad is to 
adding mission-capable locomotives to its fleet.'' Balancing FRA's need 
to monitor railroads' incremental implementation progress with the 
railroads' request that FRA reduce the reporting burden, FRA decided to 
modify the form by deleting the categories regarding antennas, GPS 
receivers, and secondary communications equipment. Moreover, FRA 
modified the row titles to clarify that a railroad should be reporting 
in terms of locomotives--for example, the railroad would report the 
quantity of locomotives with PTC displays installed, not the quantity 
of PTC displays installed.
    The Utah Transit Authority commented that the progress report is 
geared only towards railroads installing the Interoperable Electronic 
Train Management System (I-ETMS) and, thus, it is difficult to reflect 
Utah Transit Authority's own progress implementing a PTC system because 
it states ``N/A'' for numerous categories, including spectrum, wayside 
interface units, and communication towers. FRA notes the PTCEI Act 
requires quantitative reporting for spectrum and these hardware 
categories. See 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(2)(A)(iii)(III), (c)(1)(B), and (i). 
FRA added a general instruction to the cover page to clarify that 
railroads may indeed denote a section is not applicable if the 
particular hardware category does not apply to its technology. In 
footnotes 2 and 4 in the form, FRA also clarified that a railroad may 
elect to add categories or subcategories to the reporting form if it 
wants to provide more detail. Moreover, cognizant that each type of PTC 
system uses different hardware equipment, FRA chose to include 
``Transponder Readers'' in the locomotive apparatus table in Section 3, 
which is a type of hardware used in non-I-ETMS types of PTC systems. 
Despite Utah Transit Authority's suggestion, FRA will not create a 
different progress report for each type of PTC system because there is 
not a definite number of PTC systems, various railroads may even 
implement a specific type of PTC system in different

[[Page 28142]]

ways, and multiple reporting forms would be difficult to manage 
administratively.
    The Fort Worth Transportation Authority commented the quantities of 
back office locations and dispatching locations installed should be 
only an annual, not quarterly, reporting requirement because these are 
large and complex installations that may take many months or years to 
build. More generally, BNSF and ASLRRA commented that neither back 
office locations nor ``physical back office system equipment'' (the 
statutory term) are possible to quantify in a meaningful way because 
most railroads have only one back office. Based on railroads' annual 
progress reports, however, FRA knows of at least one Class I railroad 
and one large passenger railroad that have more than one back office 
for PTC operations. To simplify the reporting burden, FRA has deleted 
the multi-faceted quantitative table regarding back office and 
dispatching locations and instead provided a series of more direct 
quantitative questions--i.e., ``How many physical back office locations 
are required for PTC operations, as reported in the PTCIP?'' and ``How 
many physical back office locations have been constructed with all 
necessary equipment installed?''. Moreover, FRA is asking the same yes/
no questions that it asked in the annual progress report--i.e., ``Are 
the Back Office Location(s) fully operable with PTC?'' and ``Are the 
Dispatching Location(s) fully operable with PTC?''. And, FRA added a 
comment box for more information or explanation.
    With respect to the Infrastructure--Wayside Installations table in 
Section 3, AAR commented that FRA should measure the hardware 
installation quantities system-wide, not by track segment, to reflect 
the railroad's implementation status more accurately. As requested, FRA 
modified this table to be system-wide, significantly reducing the 
reporting burden for railroads. In addition, FRA eliminated the 
quantitative questions regarding ground wiring and modified the row to 
ask only a yes/no question as in the annual progress report.
    Finally, AAR commented that the ``Year-to-Date Cumulative Total'' 
is unclear because it could mean either the sum of the current year's 
progress or a cumulative for all prior years. To resolve the ambiguity, 
FRA modified the heading to instead state ``Sum of Quarterly Totals'' 
so railroads know that the column calls for the sum of the current 
year's progress. Also, for consistency with the annual progress report 
form, FRA added a ``Cumulative Quantity Installed'' column for the 
tables in Section 3.

D. Comments on Section 4--Installation/Track Segment Progress

    AAR commented that FRA should add a ``status'' column for each row 
in Section 3 and eliminate the redundancy of Section 4. AAR believes 
the information could be better organized in one table and thus avoid 
the need for cross-referencing between the two tables during the review 
process. However, at the public meeting, AAR acknowledged the preferred 
modification would be for FRA to eliminate the track segment 
granularity from Section 3 and leave Section 4 as is. Accordingly, FRA 
removed the track-segment by track-segment aspect of Section 3, and did 
not modify Section 4.
    Metra commented that, due to limited funding, it does not intend to 
create Geographic Information System (GIS) shapefiles to support the 
information request in Section 4 of the form, which stated ``For all 
live segments, please provide GIS shapefile or corresponding data for 
segments put into operation.'' Instead, Metra commented that it could 
provide the geographic information in table format. FRA has decided to 
eliminate this particular reporting requirement from the quarterly 
form. In the annual progress report, FRA intends to clarify that a 
railroad can provide, for track segments that are operational and 
complete only, either GIS shapefiles or updated, geographical 
information sufficiently specific to allow FRA to maintain its GIS 
Database.

E. Comments on Section 5--Quarterly Update on Employee Training

    Metra and AAR commented that the categories in the employee 
training section should align with the categories in 49 CFR 236.1041. 
Accordingly, FRA modified the employee categories in the quarterly form 
to correspond with the regulations, just as it did in the annual form, 
based on AAR's similar comment. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority 
also commented that railroads should have to provide employee training 
updates only annually, not quarterly, and BNSF commented it is 
difficult to accurately quantify employee training due to hiring, 
firing, retiring, and so forth. Although FRA acknowledges there might 
be a certain level of fluidity to employee training, FRA will 
nonetheless continue to ask for a quantitative update for employee 
training consistent with the railroad's revised PTCIP.
    For consistency with the annual progress report form, FRA added a 
``Cumulative # of Employees Trained'' column to the table in Section 5 
and provided a comment box.

F. Comments on Section 6--Quarterly Update on Interoperability Progress

    No comments were received on the interoperability section of the 
quarterly progress report form. However, FRA notes it modified this 
section to align with the revisions it made to this corresponding 
section in the annual progress report.

G. Comments on Burden Estimate, Applicability, and Formatting

    AAR commented that its member railroads estimate it will take 
approximately 40 hours to complete the quarterly progress report form, 
as opposed to the 1.5 hours that FRA estimated. FRA notes that the 
1.57-hour estimate is an average for all railroads. FRA estimated that 
the quarterly reporting burden is 3 hours for Class I and large 
passenger railroads, 2 hours for Class II and medium passenger 
railroads, and .5 hours for Class III, terminal, and small passenger 
railroads. These estimates take into account that railroads have 
already completed and provided to FRA the Annual PTC Progress Report, 
which requests similar types of information as the form for the 
Quarterly PTC Progress Report, but with more sections. FRA maintains 
that the average reporting burden for the quarterly form is 1.57 hours, 
especially as FRA has eliminated portions of the quarterly form 
initially proposed on March 7, 2016. 81 FR 11878.
    Both ASLRRA and the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District 
of Oregon requested clarification about whether only host railroads 
must submit the quarterly progress reports or whether the reporting 
requirement also applies to tenant railroads. FRA notes that the annual 
reporting the PTCEI Act mandated applies to any entity subject to 49 
U.S.C. 20157(a), and the scope of this quarterly reporting is the same. 
A tenant railroad may coordinate with its host railroad to ensure the 
host railroad captures the tenant railroad's implementation progress in 
its progress reports.
    Once OMB approves this information collection, FRA will provide the 
Quarterly PTC Progress Report Form to railroads in fillable PDF and 
Excel formats, which would be available for download on https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L17365. For purposes of internal data 
tracking and analysis, FRA requests that each railroad submit its 
report in the native format--i.e., if the railroad uses the FRA-
provided Excel document, the railroad should submit the report in Excel 
format. FRA has

[[Page 28143]]

provided the industry with prototypes of each format, and the public 
may submit comments on formatting preferences to OMB's Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs (Attn: FRA OMB Desk Officer).

III. Overview of Information Collection

    The associated collection of information is summarized below.
    Title: Quarterly Positive Train Control Progress Report Form.
    Reporting Burden:

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Respondent         Total annual      Average time per      Total annual
  Quarterly PTC progress report        universe            responses           response          burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Form FRA F 6180.165.............  41 Railroads......  164 Reports/Forms.  1.573 hours.......  258 hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Form Number: FRA F 6180.165.
    Respondent Universe: 41 Railroads.
    Frequency of Submission: On occasion.
    Total Estimated Responses for New Quarterly PTC Progress Report 
Form: 164.
    Total Estimated Responses for Entire Information Collection: 
147,776.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden for New PTC Quarterly Progress Report 
Forms: 258 hours.
    Total Estimated Burden for Entire Information Collection: 
3,122,817.
    Status: Regular Review.
    Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), 
1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FRA informs all interested parties that it may not 
conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, 49 U.S.C. 20157(c)(2); see also 
49 U.S.C. 20107, 20902; 49 CFR 236.1009(h).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2016.
Corey Hill,
Executive Director.

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[FR Doc. 2016-10831 Filed 5-6-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-06-P