Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 4837 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

John Karl Alexy, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, 

Chief Safety Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00970 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA–2025–0015] 

Establishment of an Emergency Relief 

Docket for Calendar Year 2025 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of establishment of 

public docket. 

SUMMARY: This Notice announces the 

establishment of FRA’s emergency relief 

docket (ERD) for calendar year 2025. 

The designated ERD for calendar year 

2025 is docket number FRA–2025–0015. 

ADDRESSES: See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section for further 

information regarding submitting 

petitions and/or comments to docket 

number FRA–2025–0015. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

19, 2009, FRA published a direct final 

rule establishing ERDs and the 

procedures for handling petitions for 

emergency waivers of safety rules, 

regulations, or standards during an 

emergency situation or event. 74 FR 

23329. That direct final rule became 

effective on July 20, 2009, and made 

minor modifications to 49 CFR 211.45 

in FRA’s Rules of Practice in 49 CFR 

part 211. Section 211.45(b) provides that 

each calendar year FRA will establish 

an ERD in the publicly accessible DOT 

docket system (available at 

www.regulations.gov). Section 211.45(b) 

further provides that FRA will publish 

a notice in the Federal Register 

identifying by docket number the ERD 

for that year. FRA established the ERD 

and emergency waiver procedures to 

provide an expedited process for FRA to 

address the needs of the public and the 

railroad industry during emergency 

situations or events. This Notice 

announces the designated ERD for 

calendar year 2025 is docket number 

FRA–2025–0015. 

As detailed in § 211.45, if the FRA 

Administrator determines an emergency 

event as defined in 49 CFR 211.45(a) has 

occurred, or that an imminent threat of 

such an emergency occurring exists, and 

public safety would benefit from 

providing the railroad industry with 

operational relief, the emergency waiver 

procedures of 49 CFR 211.45 will go 

into effect. In such an event, the FRA 

Administrator will issue a statement in 

the ERD indicating the emergency 

waiver procedures are in effect and FRA 

will make every effort to post the 

statement on its website at 

railroads.dot.gov. Any party desiring 

relief from FRA regulatory requirements 

as a result of the emergency should 

submit a petition for emergency waiver 

under 49 CFR 211.45(e) and (f). Specific 

instructions for filing petitions for 

emergency waivers under 49 CFR 

211.45 are found at 49 CFR 211.45(f). 

Specific instructions for filing 

comments in response to petitions for 

emergency waivers are at 49 CFR 

211.45(h). 

Privacy 

Anyone can search the electronic 

form of any written communications 

and comments received into any of 

DOT’s dockets by the name of the 

individual submitting the comment (or 

signing the document, if submitted on 

behalf of an association, business, labor 

union, etc.). Under 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT 

solicits comments from the public to 

better inform its processes. DOT posts 

these comments, without edit, including 

any personal information the 

commenter provides, to 

www.regulations.gov, as described in 

the system of records notice (DOT/ALL– 

14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 

www.transportation.gov/privacy. See 

also https://www.regulations.gov/ 

privacy-notice for the privacy notice of 

regulations.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

John Karl Alexy, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, 

Chief Safety Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00971 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA–2024–0126] 

CSX Transportation, Inc. Petition for 

Approval of Product Safety Plan 

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 November 

11, 2024, CSX Transportation, Inc. 

(CSX) submitted a petition for FRA 

approval of its Product Safety Plan 

(PSP) for the Trip Optimizer Air Brake 

Control product (also referred to as ‘‘TO 

Air Brake Control’’ or ‘‘Air Brake 

Control’’). As this petition involves a 

railroad’s PSP, FRA is publishing this 

notice and inviting public comment on 

the document. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before March 17, 2025. 

FRA will consider comments filed after 

this date to the extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: Comments: Comments 

related to this notice 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 docket 

number (FRA–2024–0126). Please note 

that comments submitted online via 

www.regulations.gov are not 

immediately posted to the docket. 

Several business days may elapse after 

a comment has been submitted online 

before it is posted to the docket. 

Privacy Act: DOT solicits comments 

from the public to better inform its 

regulatory process. DOT posts these 

comments, without edit, to 

www.regulations.gov, as described in 

the system of records notice, DOT/ALL– 

14 FDMS, accessible through 

www.dot.gov/privacy. To facilitate 

comment tracking and response, 

commenters are encouraged to provide 

their name, or the name of their 

organization; however, submission of 

names is completely optional. Whether 

or not commenters identify themselves, 

all timely comments will be fully 

considered. If you wish to provide 

comments containing proprietary or 

confidential information, please contact 

the agency for alternate submission 

instructions. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read comments received, please visit 

https://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for accessing the 

docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gabe Neal, Staff Director, Signal, Train 

Control, and Crossings Division, 

telephone: 816–516–7168, email: 

Gabe.Neal@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with part 236 of title 49 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations, this 

document provides the public notice 

that CSX has petitioned FRA for 

approval of its PSP for the Trip 

Optimizer Air Brake Control product 

(also referred to as ‘‘TO Air Brake 

Control’’ or ‘‘Air Brake Control’’). FRA 

has assigned the petition Docket 

Number FRA–2024–0126. CSX’s PSP 

has been placed in this docket and is 

available for public inspection and 

comment. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
4838 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 

CSX states that the Trip Optimizer 

product is an energy management 

system installed on locomotives that is 

used by the train’s operator to improve 

the energy efficiency of train operations. 

CSX goes on to state that TO Air Brake 

Control is an expansion of the Trip 

Optimizer product that was initially 

deployed by CSX starting in 2008. CSX 

indicates that TO Air Brake Control 

functionality is designed to increase the 

number of miles of automatic operation 

and thereby decrease fuel consumption 

and the emissions output from all 

locomotives in the train. CSX also 

indicates that a train equipped with TO 

Air Brake Control will continue to 

operate under the supervision of a 

qualified train crew, who are required to 

assume control of the train and operate 

in manual mode, when necessary, and 

to retain overall responsibility for the 

safe operation of the train. 

Interested parties are invited to 

comment on CSX’s PSP by submitting 

comments to the electronic docket. 

Please refer to the ADDRESSES section 

above for guidance on how to submit 

comments to the electronic docket. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

John Karl Alexy, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, 

Chief Safety Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00862 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

[Docket No. FTA–2024–0015] 

Third Party Contracting Guidance 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), Department of Transportation 

(DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of availability of final 

circular and response to comments. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) has made 

available on its website the final 

updated Third-Party Contracting 

Guidance Circular (C 4220.1G). The 

updated circular reflects statutory and 

regulatory changes that have occurred 

since the last update, provides 

additional non-binding guidance, and 

supersedes the previous Third-Party 

Contracting Guidance Circular C 

4220.1F. This notice responds to the 

comments FTA received on the 

proposed circular, which was published 

in the Federal Register on November 27, 

2024. 

DATES: The applicable date of this 

circular is February 18, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: One may view the 

comments at docket number FTA–2024– 

0015. For access to the docket, please 

visit https://www.regulations.gov or the 

Docket Operations office located in the 

West Building of the United States 

Department of Transportation, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

third party contracting questions, 

contact Tara Murphy, Division Chief, 

Office of Administration, Federal 

Transit Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Ave. SE, Room E41–311, 

Washington, DC 20590, phone: (202) 

366–5647 or email tara.murphy@

dot.gov. For legal questions, Christopher 

Hall, Office of Chief Counsel, same 

address, Room E56–316, phone (202) 

941–9595 or email christopher.hall@

dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Overview 

II. Responses to Public Comments 

A. Chapter I 

B. Chapter II 

C. Chapter III 

D. Chapter IV 

E. Chapter V 

F. Chapter VI 

G. Chapter VII 

I. Overview 

This notice announces the availability 

of FTA Circular C 4220.1G, Third Party 

Contracting Guidance. C 4220.1G 

replaces C 4220.1F. The purpose of 

Circular 4220.1 is to provide updated 

Third-Party Contracting Guidance for 

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) 

assistance programs. This circular 

incorporates provisions of Federal law 

enacted since the publication of C 

4220.1F, including the Infrastructure 

Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117– 

58, Nov. 15, 2021); the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) and 

United States Department of 

Transportation’s (USDOT) updated 

Uniform Administrative Requirements, 

Cost Principles, and Audit 

Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 

CFR part 200 (78 FR 78608, Dec. 26, 

2013; 89 FR 30046, Apr. 22, 2024) and 

2 CFR part 1201 (79 FR 76049, Dec. 19, 

2014), respectively; USDOT’s regulation 

implementing the Uniform Relocation 

Assistance and Real Property 

Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 

(Uniform Act) (49 CFR part 24, 89 FR 

36944, May 3, 2024); and USDOT’s 

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise 

(DBE) regulation (49 CFR part 26, 89 FR 

24963, Apr. 9, 2024). 

A copy of the final circular is in the 

docket and is posted on FTA’s Circulars 

page (https://www.transit.dot.gov/ 

regulations-and-guidance/fta-circulars/ 

circulars). 

II. Response to Comments 

FTA issued a notice of availability 

and request for comments for the 

proposed circular, C 4220.1G ‘‘Third 

Party Contracting Guidance’’ on 

November 27, 2024 (89 FR 93824). The 

public comment period closed on 

December 27, 2024. 

FTA received comments from 27 

unique commenters including transit 

authorities, businesses and industry 

organizations, private individuals, and 

State and local departments of 

transportation. 

FTA received seven requests to 

extend the comment period for the 

proposed circular. FTA declined to 

extend the comment period because 

FTA believes that the comment period 

was sufficient for interested parties to 

provide comment, evidenced by the 

number of comments FTA received on 

the proposed circular. In addition, the 

circular does not contain any binding 

requirements that are not already 

effective through statutory changes or 

regulatory changes established through 

a notice and comment process during 

which interested parties could have 

provided input. 

FTA reviewed all relevant comments 

and took them into consideration when 

developing this final circular. FTA 

addresses these comments in the 

corresponding sections below. Some 

comments were outside the scope of the 

circular, and FTA does not respond to 

those comments in this notice. Several 

comments suggested typographical 

updates or changes. These changes, 

where appropriate, were incorporated. 

In response to comments, FTA made 

changes to the final guidance which are 

discussed in detail in the corresponding 

sections below. 

A. Chapter I 

Comment: A consulting firm asserted 

that the concept of ‘‘premium’’ in the 

definition of the term ‘‘best value’’ is 

confusing and lacks a clear definition. 

FTA Response: FTA declines to define 

the term ‘‘premium’’ further, as its 

meaning is context-specific and 

generally understood within the 

framework of best value procurements. 

In this context, premium refers to the 

additional cost a recipient may choose 

to pay for a proposal offering superior 

technical quality, performance, or other 

non-cost factors. Recipients are 

encouraged to clearly articulate 

evaluation criteria and the basis for 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1