Title 49 — TransportationRelease 119-73

§20118 Prohibition on public disclosure of railroad safety analysis records

Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE V— - RAIL PROGRAMS › Part PART A— - SAFETY › Chapter CHAPTER 201— - GENERAL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL › § 20118

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation can keep certain railroad safety records private. Records given to or inspected by the Secretary under a railroad safety risk reduction program or pilot program — like a carrier’s analysis of its safety risks and its plans to reduce them — do not have to be shared under federal public‑records rules, except when the Secretary or another federal agency needs them to enforce or carry out federal law. The Secretary can still choose to release parts made up of facts already public if doing so won’t break the program’s needed secrecy. The Secretary can also bar public release of other risk analyses obtained under this chapter when doing so is needed to protect railroad safety.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §20118

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as necessary for the Secretary of Transportation or another Federal agency to enforce or carry out any provision of Federal law, any part of any record (including, but not limited to, a railroad carrier’s analysis of its safety risks and its statement of the mitigation measures it has identified with which to address those risks) that the Secretary has obtained pursuant to a provision of, or regulation or order under, this chapter related to the establishment, implementation, or modification of a railroad safety risk reduction program or pilot program is exempt from the requirements of section 552 of title 5 if the record is—

(1)supplied to the Secretary pursuant to that safety risk reduction program or pilot program; or

(2)made available for inspection and copying by an officer, employee, or agent of the Secretary pursuant to that safety risk reduction program or pilot program.

(b)Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary may disclose any part of any record comprised of facts otherwise available to the public if, in the Secretary’s sole discretion, the Secretary determines that disclosure would be consistent with the confidentiality needed for that safety risk reduction program or pilot program.

(c)The Secretary may prohibit the public disclosure of risk analyses or risk mitigation analyses that the Secretary has obtained under other provisions of, or regulations or orders under, this chapter if the Secretary determines that the prohibition of public disclosure is necessary to promote railroad safety.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 20118

Title 49 — Transportation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73