Notice2025-22585
Brightline Trains Florida's and Florida East Coast Railway's Requests To Operate During a Temporary Outage of Their Positive Train Control Systems
Primary source
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Published
December 11, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Railroad Administration
Abstract
This document provides the public with notice that, on December 5, 2025, Brightline Trains Florida (Brightline) and Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) each submitted a request for amendment (RFA) to their FRA-certified positive train control (PTC) systems. On December 5, 2025, Brightline and FECR experienced an outage of their PTC back office servers and a short-term loss of PTC functionality, temporarily impacting the operations of Brightline, FECR, and FECR's tenant railroad. On December 5, 2025, Brightline and FECR sought and obtained FRA's authorization under FRA's PTC regulations to continue rail operations, with certain conditions and restrictions, while their PTC systems were temporarily disabled.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 236 (Thursday, December 11, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 236 (Thursday, December 11, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57526-57527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22585]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Nos. FRA-2015-0062 and FRA-2022-0098]
Brightline Trains Florida's and Florida East Coast Railway's
Requests To Operate During a Temporary Outage of Their Positive Train
Control Systems
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of availability, request for comments, and notice of
decision.
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SUMMARY: This document provides the public with notice that, on
December 5, 2025, Brightline Trains Florida
[[Page 57527]]
(Brightline) and Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) each submitted a
request for amendment (RFA) to their FRA-certified positive train
control (PTC) systems. On December 5, 2025, Brightline and FECR
experienced an outage of their PTC back office servers and a short-term
loss of PTC functionality, temporarily impacting the operations of
Brightline, FECR, and FECR's tenant railroad. On December 5, 2025,
Brightline and FECR sought and obtained FRA's authorization under FRA's
PTC regulations to continue rail operations, with certain conditions
and restrictions, while their PTC systems were temporarily disabled.
DATES: FRA will review any comments received by December 19, 2025. FRA
may consider comments received after that date to the extent
practicable.
ADDRESSES:
Comments: Comments may be submitted by going to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and following the online instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and the
applicable docket number. The relevant PTC docket numbers for
Brightline and FECR are Docket Nos. FRA-2022-0098 and FRA-2015-0062,
respectively. For convenience, all active PTC dockets are hyperlinked
on FRA's website at <a href="https://railroads.dot.gov/research-development/program-areas/train-control/ptc/railroads-ptc-dockets">https://railroads.dot.gov/research-development/program-areas/train-control/ptc/railroads-ptc-dockets</a>. All comments
received will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>;
this includes any personal information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gabe Neal, Staff Director, Signal,
Train Control, and Crossings Division, telephone: 816-516-7168, email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#20674142450e6e45414c60444f540e474f56"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="53143231367d1d36323f13373c277d343c25">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In general, title 49 of the United States
Code (U.S.C.) section 20157(h) requires FRA to certify that a host
railroad's PTC system complies with title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) part 236, subpart I, before the technology may be
operated in revenue service. Before making certain changes to an FRA-
certified PTC system or temporarily disabling the PTC system, a host
railroad must submit, and obtain FRA's approval of, an RFA under 49 CFR
236.1021(m).
Under 49 CFR 236.1021(e), FRA's regulations provide that FRA will
publish a notice in the Federal Register and invite public comment in
accordance with 49 CFR part 211, if an RFA includes a request for
approval of a material modification or discontinuance of a signal or
train control system. Accordingly, this notice informs the public that,
on December 5, 2025, Brightline and FECR each submitted an RFA to their
PTC systems, the Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-
ETMS), under 49 CFR 236.1021(m). Those RFAs are available in Docket
Nos. FRA-2015-0062 and FRA-2022-0098. Interested parties are invited to
comment on Brightline's and FECR's RFAs by submitting written comments
or data.
FRA typically invites the public to comment on such RFAs for a
period of 20 days, as FRA must issue a decision to the railroad within
45 days of receipt of the RFA. 49 CFR 236.1021(e), (m)(3)(i). However,
FRA's PTC regulations, at Sec. 236.1021(m)(3)(ii), recognize that FRA
may issue a decision before the standard 45-day decision deadline in
emergencies or under other circumstances necessitating immediate
approval. Given the specific, unique circumstances and the impact to
Brightline's and FECR's PTC-governed networks, FRA issued a decision on
December 5, 2025 (the date of receipt of the RFAs), conditionally
approving Brightline's and FECR's RFAs to enable them to continue
operating without I-ETMS until 11:59pm EST on December 8, 2025, subject
to speed limitations and other restrictions to help ensure rail safety.
FRA's decision letter is available in both railroads' PTC dockets. FRA
will review and consider any comments received during the comment
period, even after issuing its decision.
Privacy Act Notice
In accordance with 49 CFR 211.3, FRA solicits comments from the
public to better inform its decisions. DOT posts these comments,
without edit, including any personal information the commenter
provides, to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, as described in the system of
records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/privacy">https://www.transportation.gov/privacy</a>. See <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/privacy-notice">https://www.regulations.gov/privacy-notice</a> for the privacy notice of <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. To facilitate
comment tracking, we encourage commenters to provide their name, or the
name of their organization; however, submission of names is completely
optional. If you wish to provide comments containing proprietary or
confidential information, please contact FRA for alternate submission
instructions.
Issued in Washington, DC.
Carolyn R. Hayward-Williams,
Director, Office of Railroad Systems and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2025-22585 Filed 12-10-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
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