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1/3/2024
The Federal Railroad Administration is seeking comments on whether to grant a waiver of its Buy America requirements to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NVDOT) for certain components that are not produced in the United States for use in Brightline West’s proposed high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, California.
FRA selected the project for funding under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program, which calls for the FRA's Buy America requirements to apply to funded projects, according to an FRA filing in the Federal Register.
The Buy America requirements include both FRA's statutory requirements — which require 100% of the manufactured products, steel and iron used in an FRA-funded project to be produced in the United States — and the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) — which requires that all construction materials used in the project be produced in the United States.
The proposed waiver in this case would apply only to the trainset, signal systems, high-speed rail turnout and fire alarm systems based on the domestic nonavailability of such components, as identified by NVDOT's railroad operating partner Brightline West and the two potential suppliers (Alstom and Siemens) of the rolling stock and signaling systems for the project.
NVDOT and Brightline estimate that over 95% of the total direct dollar expenditures for the project would be spent on domestically sourced products and labor, including 100% of the civil infrastructure costs.
Comments on the proposed waiver are due Jan. 25 and should be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.