Mr. Wondimneh welcomed the participants and thanked all for their participation. He summarized the potential benefits of a GTR for this topic and the importance of this IWG meeting. Also, he invited representatives of the other contracting parties to offer opening comments. In response, Mr. Tom Healy (US) briefly reviewed the status of NHTSA’s Quiet Car NPRM and indicated comments were still being accepted even though the official comment period had ended. Mr. Nickolas Kakizis (European Commission) informed the group of recent actions which will likely mandate AVAS and reiterated support for development of a GTR in this area. Mr. Roland Jonasch (Canada) commented on the voluntary nature of AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System) in Canada and also expressed support of this GTR effort.