FRA mulls HSR “Buy America” waiver Written by , Editor-in-Chief









The Federal Railroad Administration said Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 it intends to grant both Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority waivers from its "Buy America" requirement for the non-domestic final assembly of up to four prototype Tier III high speed rail train sets.

CHSRA is advancing a 700-mile intrastate HSR network beginning in the Central Valley, with projected top speeds of 220 mph, while Amtrak is at work on the “New Jersey Raceway” portion of its Northeast Corridor to increase top speeds to 160 mph.

FRA will accept public comment on the matter through Dec. 17.

The waivers apply only to the final assembly of up to two prototype HSR train sets each for Amtrak and California. Before issuing a “Notice To Proceed” to any selected supplier, Amtrak and California each must certify and provide support to FRA that its selected supplier still has not established domestic manufacturing facilities capable of assembling the prototypes and delivering them within a reasonable time. All components used in the prototypes must still be domestically manufactured or separate waivers for components requested and granted before assembly of the prototypes can commence.

FRA’s current Buy America requirement for rolling stock, not limited to HSR gear, requires domestic final assembly of the train sets and that all of the components be manufactured in the U.S. Numerous global suppliers, including but not limited to the likes of Bombardier, CAF, Kawasaki, Siemens, and Sumitomo, have established and/or recently expanded their U.S. manufacturing presence to comply with the requirement.

“(The) FRA believes a waiver is appropriate … because domestically-produced HSR trainsets meeting the specific technical, design, and schedule needs of Amtrak and the Authority are not currently available in the United States,” FRA said in a notice. “There is no assembly or testing facility for HSR trainsets operating at speeds greater than 160 mph in the United States. Moreover, FRA estimates that it could take HSR trainset manufacturers a minimum of one-and-a-half to two years to establish the required facilities to support a domestic HSR trainset assembly capability.”

Since last March, FRA has received 13 online comments and one mailed response. None of the commenters identified a domestic source for HSR train sets, FRA said.

Of the 14 comments, 10 opposed granting any waiver, while four favored such a move. Six of those opposed asserted that Amtrak and California could simply wait for domestic assembly to be available. Rail advocates argue such an argument is tantamount to an outright attempt to thwart HSR development in the U.S.

For more information, or to submit a public comment, go to federalregister.gov/a/2014-2