The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the Teamster Rail Conference - Comments

August 9, 2010 Docket No. FRA-2010-0122 The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the Teamster Rail Conference submits these comments on behalf of our 35,000 members who build, inspect and maintain our nation's railroad tracks and bridges. BMWED opposes granting this waiver from FRA's Buy America requirement. BMWED also protests the extremely short 10-day comment period for public submissions. It is not reasonable to allow only 10 days to submit detailed comments to the public docket. Thus, BMWED submits these abbreviated comments and implores FRA/DOT to be more generous with comment periods in the future. BMWED believes the NNEPRA request for wavier to purchase non-domestically produced track nuts is unnecessary and detrimental to American producers and the American economy. There are undoubtedly more than one million domestically produced 1\1/8 inch track bolts and nuts in service throughout the railroad industry in North America, and in supplier inventories . These domestically produced bolts and nuts are of high quality and strength and have performed extremely well in track service for decades. Track bolts and nuts are usually purchased as a set, and NNEPRA has stated that they will purchase the track bolts from a domestic producer. BMWED is confident that there are numerous domestic producers who can offer 1\1/8 nuts of sufficient quality and quantity to satisfy the NNEPRA for the intended application. Thus, BMWED requests that FRA reject the NNEPRA waiver application in its entirety and uphold the Buy America provisions of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Respectfully submitted, Rick Inclima, BMWED Director of Safety