[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 128 (Monday, July 3, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 41123]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16724]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA-1999-6404]


Petition for Grandfathering of Non-Compliant Equipment: National 
Railroad Passenger Corp.; Closure of Comment Period; Date and Location 
of Public Hearing

    On October 18, 1999, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation 
(Amtrak) petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for 
grandfathering approval 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 59230. Interested parties were invited to comment on the petition 
before the end of the comment period (then December 2, 1999).
    Through published notice in the Federal Register, FRA extended the 
comment period in this proceeding and explained the reasons therefor. 
See 65 FR 5723; Feb. 4, 2000. By notice published on February 29, 2000, 
FRA announced that the comment period in this proceeding would remain 
open to permit the resolution of issues involving Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) requests for information related to this 
proceeding. 65 FR 10851. FRA has completed its responses to the FOIA 
requests, and placed copies of the documents provided to the FOIA 
requester in the public docket for this proceeding. Accordingly, FRA 
hereby announces that the comment period in this proceeding will close 
on August 2, 2000.
    FRA also announces that, in accordance with 49 CFR 211.25 and 
238.203(h), it has scheduled a public hearing on Amtrak's petition for 
grandfathering approval of the Talgo passenger trainsets. A public 
hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. on Friday, July 21, 2000, at the Federal 
Railroad Administration, 7th floor, conference room 1, 1120 Vermont 
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Interested parties are invited to 
present oral statements at the hearing. The hearing will be an informal 
one and will be conducted in accordance with FRA's Rules of Practice 
(49 CFR 211.25) by a representative designated by FRA. The hearing will 
be a non-adversarial proceeding; therefore, there will be no cross-
examination of persons presenting statements. The FRA representative 
will make an opening statement outlining the scope of the hearing. 
After all initial statements have been completed, those persons wishing 
to make a brief rebuttal will be given the opportunity to do so in the 
same order in which initial statements were made. Additional 
procedures, as necessary for the conduct of the hearing, will be 
announced at the hearing.
    All written comments concerning this proceeding should be 
identified with Docket Number FRA-1999-6404 and must be submitted to 
the Docket Clerk, DOT Central Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401, 
400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590. Comments received 
within 30 days of publication of this notice will be considered by FRA 
before final action is taken on Amtrak's petition. Comments received 
after that date will be considered by FRA to the extent practicable.
    Amtrak's petition, documents inserted in the docket, and written 
communications concerning this proceeding are available for examination 
during regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at the DOT Central 
Docket Management Facility, Room PL-401 (Plaza Level), 400 Seventh, 
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. 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. Documents that cannot be 
accessed on the Internet, due to limitations on scanning large 
documents and color documents, are available for inspection and copying 
at the Federal Railroad Administration, Docket Clerk, 7th floor, 1120 
Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

    Issued in Washington, D.C. on June 27, 2000.
Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program 
Development.
[FR Doc. 00-16724 Filed 6-30-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-U