Federal Railroad Administration March 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FRA is proposing to amend its hours of service recordkeeping regulations, to establish hours of service regulations, including maximum on-duty periods, minimum off-duty periods, and other limitations, for train employees (e.g., locomotive engineers and conductors) providing commuter and intercity rail passenger transportation. The proposed regulations would require that railroads employing such train employees analyze and mitigate the risks for fatigue in the schedules worked by these train employees, and that the railroads submit to FRA for its approval the relevant schedules and fatigue mitigation plans. This proposed rule would also make corresponding changes to FRA's hours of service recordkeeping regulation, to require railroads to keep hours of service records and report excess service to FRA in a manner consistent with the new requirements. This proposed regulation is authorized by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirement (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on January 13, 2011 (76 FR 2441).

FRA is proposing amendments to its primary regulations on grade crossing safety. The major amendments proposed would require a railroad that dispatches a train through a public or private highway- rail or pathway grade crossing to establish and maintain a system that allows a member of the public to call the railroad and report an emergency or other unsafe condition at the crossing. Upon receiving such a report, the railroad would be required to warn all trains authorized to operate through the crossing of the reported unsafe condition, inform local law enforcement of the reported unsafe condition, and either investigate the report itself or request that the railroad with maintenance responsibility for the crossing investigate the report. If the report is substantiated, the railroad with maintenance responsibility for the crossing would be required to take certain actions to remedy the condition found.