Rail safety bill headed to White House
WASHINGTON -- The Senate has passed, by a 74-24 vote, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, and its companion, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) voted "yes." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted "no." The vote took place the evening of Oct. 1.

As the House previously voted in favor of the legislation, the two bills, packaged together, now move to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign the measure into law.

This is the most comprehensive rail safety bill in more than 30 years.

It provides for certification of conductors, along with a minimum training requirement.

Additionally, it prohibits carriers from interfering with medical treatment of injured employees, mandates installation of positive train control, and offers railroads incentives to install electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes and switch position indicators.

Significantly, the safety bill caps limbo time and requires at least two days off following each six-day work week. But a provision permits general chairpersons to negotiate with carriers a better balance between time off and earnings, while preserving guaranteed time off.

Also of signficance, the legislative history of the bill supports two sets of eyes and ears in the locomotive cab, notwithstanding the installation of PTC.

The Amtrak portion of the bill contains a blueprint to protect Amtrak and expand intercity rail passenger service. It supports a five-year cumulative $13.1 billion federal subsidy to Amtrak, provides seed money for the development of additional high-speed rail corridors, and permits the Surface Transportation Board to fine host freight railroads that delay Amtrak trains.

Following are major provisions of the rail safety bill:

Conductor certification: Within 18 months of the bills becoming law, the FRA must establish a program to certify conductors, including minimum training standards.

Positive Train Control: Requires installation of positive train control by Dec. 31, 2015, on all main-line track where intercity passenger and commuter railroads operate, and where toxic-by-inhalation hazmat is transported. Also, grants are provided to assist railroads in implementing ECP brakes and switch-position indicators.

Hours-of-Service: Requires at least 10 consecutive uninterrupted hours off duty following 12 hours on duty. (There is a three-year exception for passenger train employees, during which time their hours of service limitations will be studied by the FRA.)

No freight railroad employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be called to work unless they have had at least 10 uninterrupted hours off during the prior 24-hour period. And following each six days of work, a covered employee must be given 48 hours of uninterrupted time-off at their home terminal.

If the carrier requires that employee to work a 7th day -- even if it is to return them to their home terminal -- then the uninterrupted time-off at the home terminal must be at least 72 hours.

As to limbo time, no employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be placed in limbo time after they have been on duty, waited for deadhead transportation or been in any other mandatory service for more than a total of 276 hours in any month.

And total limbo time per month is restricted to no more than 40 hours -- reduced to 30 hours on the first anniversary of the bills becoming law.

The bill permits general chairpersons to sit down with carrier labor relations officers and negotiate a better balance between time off and earnings, while preserving guaranteed time off.

Locomotive Cab Safety: Requires the FRA study the safety impact of the use of train crews using personal electronic devices. (The UTU has learned that the FRA already is considering issuing an emergency order prohibiting train crews from using personal cell phones, Blackberries, iPods and other electronic devices, except for company business -- and then only when two-crewpersons are in the cab.)

Medical Attention: Prohibits railroads from denying, delaying, or interfering with the medical or first aid treatment of injured workers, and from disciplining those workers that request treatment. Also requires railroads to arrange for immediate transport of injured workers to the nearest appropriate hospital.

Inspector Staffing: Increases the number of federal rail safety inspectors and supporting staff by 200.

Following is a summary of the Amtrak provisions:

State Corridors: Federal grants are provided to states to develop innovative new services, increase capacity on heavily used rail lines, and attract new riders.

High-Speed Rail Corridors: Grants are provided to construct 11 to-be-determined high-speed rail corridors.

On-Time Performance: DOT and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) must investigate Amtrak delays and determine if they are the fault of the host railroad. If so, host rail carrier may be ordered to pay Amtrak monetary damages.

There is no fatigue on the CN because it's a scheduled railroad.

Someone quickly band Calvin!

"Can you tell me just exactly what fatigue is and how it can be measured?"

Actual legalise...

SEC. 108. HOURS-OF-SERVICE REFORM.(a) CHANGE IN DEFINITION OF SIGNAL EMPLOYEE.Section21101(4) is amended by striking employed by a railroad carrier.(b) LIMITATION ON DUTY HOURS OF TRAIN EMPLOYEES.Section21103 is amended

(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:

(a) IN GENERAL.Except as provided in subsection (d) of thissection, a railroad carrier and its officers and agents may not

require or allow a train employee to

(1) remain on duty, go on duty, wait for deadhead transportation,

be in deadhead transportation from a duty assignment

to the place of final release, or be in any other mandatory

service for the carrier in any calendar month where the

employee has spent a total of 276 hours

(A) on duty;

(B) waiting for deadhead transportation, or in

deadhead transportation from a duty assignment to the

place of final release; or

(C) in any other mandatory service for the carrier;

(2) remain or go on duty for a period in excess of 12

consecutive hours;

(3) remain or go on duty unless that employee has had

at least 10 consecutive hours off duty during the prior 24

hours; or

(4) remain or go on duty after that employee has initiated

an on-duty period each day for

(A) 6 consecutive days, unless that employee has had

at least 48 consecutive hours off duty at the employees

home terminal during which time the employee is unavailable

for any service for any railroad carrier except that

(i) an employee may work a seventh consecutive

day if that employee completed his or her final period

of on-duty time on his or her sixth consecutive day

at a terminal other than his or her home terminal;

and

(ii) any employee who works a seventh consecutive

day pursuant to subparagraph (i) shall have at least

72 consecutive hours off duty at the employees home

terminal during which time the employee is unavailable

for any service for any railroad carrier; or

(B) except as provided in subparagraph (A), 7 consecutive

days, unless that employee has had at least 72 consecutive

hours off duty at the employees home terminal during

which time the employee is unavailable for any service

for any railroad carrier, if

(i) for a period of 18 months following the date

of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of

2008, an existing collective bargaining agreement

expressly provides for such a schedule or, following

the expiration of 18 months after the date of enactment

of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, collective

H. R. 209514

bargaining agreements entered into during such period

expressly provide for such a schedule;

(ii) such a schedule is provided for by a pilot

program authorized by a collective bargaining agreement;

or

(iii) such a schedule is provided for by a pilot

program under section 21108 of this chapter related

to employees work and rest cycles.

The Secretary may waive paragraph (4), consistent with the procedural

requirements of section 20103, if a collective bargaining agreement

provides a different arrangement and such an arrangement

is in the public interest and consistent with railroad safety.;

(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d) and

inserting after subsection (b) the following:

(c) LIMBO TIME LIMITATION AND ADDITIONAL REST REQUIREMENT.(1) A railroad carrier may not require or allow an

employee

(A) to exceed a total of 40 hours per calendar month

spent

(i) waiting for deadhead transportation; or

(ii) in deadhead transportation from a duty

assignment to the place of final release,

following a period of 12 consecutive hours on duty that

is neither time on duty nor time off duty, not including

interim rest periods, during the period from the date of

enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008

to one year after such date of enactment; and

(B) to exceed a total of 30 hours per calendar month

spent

(i) waiting for deadhead transportation; or

(ii) in deadhead transportation from a duty

assignment to the place of final release,

following a period of 12 consecutive hours on duty that

is neither time on duty nor time off duty, not including

interim rest periods, during the period beginning one year

after the date of enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement

Act of 2008 except that the Secretary may further limit

the monthly limitation pursuant to regulations prescribed

under section 21109.

(2) The limitations in paragraph (1) shall apply unless

the train carrying the employee is directly delayed by

(A) a casualty;

(B) an accident;

(C) an act of God;

(D) a derailment;

(E) a major equipment failure that prevents the train

from advancing; or

(F) a delay resulting from a cause unknown and

unforeseeable to a railroad carrier or its officer or agent

in charge of the employee when the employee left a terminal.

(3) Each railroad carrier shall report to the Secretary,

in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary,

each instance where an employee subject to this section spends

time waiting for deadhead transportation or in deadhead

H. R. 209515

transportation from a duty assignment to the place of final

release in excess of the requirements of paragraph (1).

(4) If

(A) the time spent waiting for deadhead transportation

or in deadhead transportation from a duty assignment

to the place of final release that is not time on

duty, plus

(B) the time on duty,

exceeds 12 consecutive hours, the railroad carrier and its officers

and agents shall provide the employee with additional

time off duty equal to the number of hours by which such

sum exceeds 12 hours.; and

(3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

(e) COMMUNICATION DURING TIME OFF DUTY.During a trainemployees minimum off-duty period of 10 consecutive hours, as

provided under subsection (a) or during an interim period of at

least 4 consecutive hours available for rest under subsection (b)(7)

or during additional off-duty hours under subsection (c)(4), a railroad

carrier, and its officers and agents, shall not communicate

with the train employee by telephone, by pager, or in any other

manner that could reasonably be expected to disrupt the employees

rest. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit communication necessary

to notify an employee of an emergency situation, as defined

by the Secretary. The Secretary may waive the requirements of

this paragraph for commuter or intercity passenger railroads if

the Secretary determines that such a waiver will not reduce safety

and is necessary to maintain such railroads efficient operations

and on-time performance of its trains..

(c) LIMITATION ON DUTY HOURS OF SIGNAL EMPLOYEES.Section21104 is amended

(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:

(a) IN GENERAL.Except as provided in subsection (c) of thissection, a railroad carrier and its officers and agents may not

require or allow its signal employees to remain or go on duty

and a contractor or subcontractor to a railroad carrier and its

officers and agents may not require or allow its signal employees

to remain or go on duty

(1) for a period in excess of 12 consecutive hours; or

(2) unless that employee has had at least 10 consecutive

hours off duty during the prior 24 hours.;

(2) by striking duty, except that up to one hour of that

time spent returning from the final trouble call of a period

of continuous or broken service is time off duty. in subsection

(b)(3) and inserting duty.;

(3) by inserting A signal employee may not be allowed

to remain or go on duty under the emergency authority provided

under this subsection to conduct routine repairs, routine

maintenance, or routine inspection of signal systems. after

service. in subsection (c); and

(4) by adding at the end the following:

(d) COMMUNICATION DURING TIME OFF DUTY.During a signalemployees minimum off-duty period of 10 consecutive hours, as

provided under subsection (a), a railroad carrier or a contractor

or subcontractor to a railroad carrier, and its officers and agents,

shall not communicate with the signal employee by telephone, by

pager, or in any other manner that could reasonably be expected

to disrupt the employees rest. Nothing in this subsection shall

H. R. 209516

prohibit communication necessary to notify an employee of an emergency

situation, as defined by the Secretary.

(e) EXCLUSIVITY.The hours of service, duty hours, and restperiods of signal employees shall be governed exclusively by this

chapter. Signal employees operating motor vehicles shall not be

subject to any hours of service rules, duty hours or rest period

rules promulgated by any Federal authority, including the Federal

Motor Carrier Safety Administration, other than the Federal Railroad

Administration..

Looks like the railroads will have to hire more.

As I hear all the time..."You don't see the big picture"