Administrative Updates to the Federal Railroad Administration's Track Safety Standards

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Railroad Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 213</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FRA-2025-0081]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2130-AD08</RIN> <SUBJECT>Administrative Updates to the Federal Railroad Administration's Track Safety Standards</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This rule makes administrative updates to FRA's track safety standards, including updating addresses. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective July 1, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Veronica Chittim, Senior Attorney, Office of Safety Law, Office of the Chief Counsel, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 202-480-3410), <E T="03">veronica.chittim@dot.gov;</E> or Lucinda Henriksen, Senior Advisor, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA (telephone 202-657-2842), <E T="03">lucinda.henriksen@dot.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> Consistent with the deregulatory agenda of President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy, which seeks to unleash America's economic prosperity without compromising transportation safety, and as described in more detail below, this rule is making miscellaneous, administrative updates to its track safety standards in 49 CFR part 213. These changes include updating addresses that are no longer valid. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Section-by-Section Analysis</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Part 213</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">§ 213.4 Excepted Track</HD> FRA is amending § 213.4(f) to update the reference from “the appropriate FRA Regional Office” to “FRA's Track and Structures Division.” This is to ensure information gets to the agency subject matter expert in the relevant technical discipline. FRA will maintain a listing on its website of email addresses for each Division referenced in this rule. <HD SOURCE="HD3">§ 213.5 Responsibility for Compliance</HD> FRA is amending § 213.5(c) to update the reference from “the appropriate FRA Regional Office” to “FRA's Track and Structures Division.” As mentioned above, this update is to ensure information gets to the agency subject matter expert in the relevant technical discipline. <HD SOURCE="HD3">§ 213.15 Penalties</HD> To avoid the need to update this section every time the civil penalty amounts are adjusted for inflation, FRA is changing § 213.15(a) by replacing references to specific penalty amounts with general references to the minimum civil monetary penalty, ordinary maximum civil monetary penalty, and aggravated maximum civil monetary penalty. FRA is adding language to this section referring readers to 49 CFR part 209, appendix A, where FRA will continue to specify statutorily provided civil penalty amounts updated for inflation. FRA is also amending this section to update the web address from <E T="03">www.fra.dot.gov</E> to <E T="03">https://railroads.dot.gov/.</E> To be consistent with other definitions of “person,” such as 49 CFR 270.5, FRA is updating the reference in the definition of person from 1 U.S.C. 1 to 49 U.S.C. 21301. <HD SOURCE="HD3">§ 213.110 Gage Restraint Measurement Systems</HD> FRA is amending 49 CFR 213.110(a)(1) and (2) to update the references from “the appropriate FRA Regional Office” to “FRA's Track and Structures Division.” <HD SOURCE="HD3">§ 213.303 Responsibility for Compliance</HD> FRA is amending § 213.303(b) to update the reference from “the appropriate FRA Regional Office” to “FRA's Track and Structures Division.” <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Public Participation</HD> Under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an agency may waive the normal notice and comment procedures if the action is a rule of agency organization, procedure, or practice. 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A). Additionally, under the APA, an agency may waive notice and comment procedures when the agency for good cause finds that notice and public procedure are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). Since this final rule merely makes miscellaneous, administrative updates to the CFR, such as updating web addresses, it would not benefit from public comment, and notice and comment is not necessary. <HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. Regulatory Impact and Notices</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) and DOT</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">Regulatory Policies and Procedures</HD> FRA has evaluated this final rule in accordance with E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review (58 FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993), and DOT Order 2100.6B, Policies and Procedures for Rulemaking (Mar. 10, 2025). The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) determined that this final rule is not a significant regulatory action under section 3(f) of E.O. 12866. Because this final rule makes miscellaneous, administrative changes such as reflecting updated web and email addresses in the CFR, this final rule imparts no additional burdens on regulated entities. Moreover, this rule will provide some qualitative benefits to regulated entities and the U.S. government, by clarifying, simplifying, and updating the language of part 213, including updating addresses. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. E.O. 14192 (Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation)</HD> E.O. 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation (90 FR 9065, Jan. 31, 2025), requires that for “each new [E.O. 14192 regulatory action] issued, at least ten prior regulations be identified for elimination.”  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> Implementation guidance for E.O. 14192 issued by OMB (Memorandum M-25-20, March 26, 2025) defines two different types of E.O. 14192 actions: an E.O. 14192 deregulatory action, and an E.O. 14192 regulatory action. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU> Executive Office of the President. <E T="03">Executive Order 14192 of January 31, 2025. Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.</E> 90 FR 9065-9067. Feb. 6, 2025. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU> Executive Office of the President. Office of Management and Budget. <E T="03">Guidance Implementing Section 3 of Executive Order 14192, Titled “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.”</E> Memorandum M-25-20. Mar. 26, 2025. </FTNT> An E.O. 14192 deregulatory action is defined as “an action that has been finalized and has total costs less than zero.” This final rule is expected to have total costs less than zero, and therefore it would be considered an E.O. 14192 deregulatory action. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act and E.O. 13272</HD> The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 ((RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) and E.O. 13272 (67 FR 53461, Aug. 16, 2002) require an agency to prepare and make available to the public a regulatory flexibility analysis that describes the effect of the rule on small entities ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions). A regulatory flexibility analysis is not required when a rule is exempt from notice and comment rulemaking. FRA has determined that this rule is exempt from notice and comment rulemaking. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required for this rule. <HD SOURCE="HD2">D. Paperwork Reduction Act</HD> There is no new collection of information requirements contained in this final rule, and in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501 <E T="03">et seq.,</E> therefore, an information collection submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is not required. The recordkeeping and reporting requirements already contained in part 213 became effective when they were approved by OMB on February 7, 2024. The OMB Control No. is 2130-0010 and the expiration date is February 28, 2027. <HD SOURCE="HD2">E. Environmental Assessment</HD> FRA has analyzed this rule for the purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). In accordance with 42 U.S.C. 4336 and DOT NEPA Order 5610.1C, FRA has determined that this rule is categorically excluded pursuant to 23 CFR 771.118(c)(4), “[p]lanning and administrative activities that do not involve or lead directly to construction, such as: [p]romulgation of rules, regulations, and directives.” This rulemaking is not anticipated to result in any environmental impacts, and there are no unusual or extraordinary circumstances present in connection with this rulemaking. <HD SOURCE="HD2">F. Federalism Implications</HD> This final rule will not have a substantial effect on the States, on the relationship between the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government. Thus, in accordance with E.O. 13132, “Federalism” (64 FR 43255, Aug. 10, 1999), preparation of a Federalism Assessment is not warranted. <HD SOURCE="HD2">G. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995</HD> This final rule will not result in the expenditure, in the aggregate, of $100,000,000 or more, adjusted for inflation, in any one year by State, local, or Indian Tribal governments, or the private sector. Thus, consistent with section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4, 2 U.S.C. 1532), FRA is not required to prepare a written statement detailing the effect of such an expenditure. <HD SOURCE="HD2">H. Energy Impact</HD> E.O. 13211, Actions Concerning Regulations that Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001), requires Federal agencies to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for any “significant energy action.” FRA has evaluated this rule in accordance with E.O. 13211 and determined that this rule is not a “ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 16k characters. 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