PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary may make rules to improve railroad safety and cut employee fatigue. The rules can lower the maximum hours a worker may be on duty, raise the minimum rest time, and limit time spent waiting for or riding deadhead transportation. The Secretary can make special rules for signal employees about time spent returning from work or trouble calls and about what counts as a release period. The Secretary can also require other changes to operating and scheduling practices that affect fatigue. Within 3 years after the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 became law, the Secretary must set hours-of-service rules for commuter and intercity train workers that may be different from the current rules. The Secretary must consider scientific and medical research, scheduling changes, new technology, differences between freight and passenger service, and fatigue management plans when making rules. If rules are needed, the Secretary will first ask the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee to draft them and may give the Committee time to finish. If the Committee is asked to work on passenger-train rules, it must try to agree within 18 months; if it fails, the Secretary will issue rules within 18 months. If the Committee is not asked, the Secretary must publish rules within 3 years. The Secretary must run at least 2 pilot projects within 2 years after the Act: one testing giving employees shift notice 10 hours before a shift, and one testing set unscheduled-call shifts followed by shifts not subject to calls. The Secretary may temporarily waive section requirements to run a pilot. A “duty call” means a telephone call notifying an employee of an assigned shift time.

Title 49, §21109

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(a)In General.—

In order to improve safety and reduce employee fatigue, the Secretary may prescribe regulations—

(1)to reduce the maximum hours an employee may be required or allowed to go or remain on duty to a level less than the level established under this chapter;

(2)to increase the minimum hours an employee may be required or allowed to rest to a level greater than the level established under this chapter;

(3)to limit or eliminate the amount of time an employee spends waiting for deadhead transportation or in deadhead transportation from a duty assignment to the place of final release that is considered neither on duty nor off duty under this chapter;

(4)for signal employees—

(A)to limit or eliminate the amount of time that is considered to be neither on duty nor off duty under this chapter that an employee spends returning from an outlying worksite after scheduled duty hours or returning from a trouble call to the employee’s headquarters or directly to the employee’s residence; and

(B)to increase the amount of time that constitutes a release period, that does not break the continuity of service and is considered time off duty; and

(5)to require other changes to railroad operating and scheduling practices, including unscheduled duty calls, that could affect employee fatigue and railroad safety.

(b)Regulations Governing the Hours of Service of Train Employees of Commuter and Intercity Passenger Railroad Carriers.—

Within 3 years after the date of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations and issue orders to establish hours of service requirements for train employees engaged in commuter rail passenger transportation and intercity rail passenger transportation (as defined in section 24102 of this title) that may differ from the requirements of this chapter. Such regulations and orders may address railroad operating and scheduling practices, including unscheduled duty calls, communications during time off duty, and time spent waiting for deadhead transportation or in deadhead transportation from a duty assignment to the place of final release, that could affect employee fatigue and railroad safety.

(c)Considerations.—

In issuing regulations under subsection (a) the Secretary shall consider scientific and medical research related to fatigue and fatigue abatement, railroad scheduling and operating practices that improve safety or reduce employee fatigue, a railroad’s use of new or novel technology intended to reduce or eliminate human error, the variations in freight and passenger railroad scheduling practices and operating conditions, the variations in duties and operating conditions for employees subject to this chapter, a railroad’s required or voluntary use of fatigue management plans covering employees subject to this chapter, and any other relevant factors.

(d)Time Limits.—

(1)If the Secretary determines that regulations are necessary under subsection (a), the Secretary shall first request that the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee develop proposed regulations and, if the Committee accepts the task, provide the Committee with a reasonable time period in which to complete the task.

(2)If the Secretary requests that the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee accept the task of developing regulations under subsection (b) and the Committee accepts the task, the Committee shall reach consensus on the rulemaking within 18 months after accepting the task. If the Committee does not reach consensus within 18 months after the Secretary makes the request, the Secretary shall prescribe appropriate regulations within 18 months.

(3)If the Secretary does not request that the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee accept the task of developing regulations under subsection (b), the Secretary shall prescribe regulations within 3 years after the date of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

(e)Pilot Projects.—

(1)In general.—

Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, the Secretary shall conduct at least 2 pilot projects of sufficient size and scope to analyze specific practices which may be used to reduce fatigue for train and engine and other railroad employees as follows:

(A)A pilot project at a railroad or railroad facility to evaluate the efficacy of communicating to employees notice of their assigned shift time 10 hours prior to the beginning of their assigned shift as a method for reducing employee fatigue.

(B)A pilot project at a railroad or railroad facility to evaluate the efficacy of requiring railroads who use employee scheduling practices that subject employees to periods of unscheduled duty calls to assign employees to defined or specific unscheduled call shifts that are followed by shifts not subject to call, as a method for reducing employee fatigue.

(2)Waiver.—

The Secretary may temporarily waive the requirements of this section, if necessary, to complete a pilot project under this subsection.

(f)Duty Call Defined.—

In this section the term “duty call” means a telephone call that a railroad places to an employee to notify the employee of his or her assigned shift time.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, referred to in subsecs. (b), (d)(3), and (e)(1), is the date of enactment of div. A of Pub. L. 110–432, which was approved Oct. 16, 2008.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Completion of Hours of Service and Fatigue Studies Pub. L. 117–58, div. B, title II, § 22408, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 739, provided that: “(a) In General.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Nov. 15, 2021], the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall commence the pilot programs required under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 21109(e)(1) of title 49, United States Code. “(b) Consultation.—The Federal Railroad Administration shall consult with the class or craft of employees impacted by the pilot projects, including railroad carriers, and representatives of labor organizations representing the impacted employees when designing and conducting the pilot programs referred to in subsection (a). “(c) Report.—If the pilot programs required under section 21109(e)(1) of title 49, United States Code, have not commenced on the date that is 1 year and 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary [of Transportation], not later than 30 days after such date, submit [sic] a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives that describes—“(1) the status of such pilot programs; “(2) actions that the Federal Railroad Administration has taken to commence the pilot programs, including efforts to recruit participant railroads; “(3) any challenges impacting the commencement of the pilot programs; and “(4) any other details associated with the development of the pilot programs that affect progress toward meeting the mandate under such section 21109(e)(1).”

§21109 Regulatory Authority