49 U.S.C. § 20103: General authority

The Secretary of Transportation, as necessary, shall prescribe regulations and issue orders for every area of railroad safety supplementing laws and regulations in effect on October 16, 1970 . When prescribing a security regulation or issuing a security order that affects the safety of railroad operations, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult with the Secretary. The Secretary shall prescribe regulations of practice applicable to each proceeding under this chapter. The regulations shall reflect the varying nature of the proceedings and include time limits for disposition of the proceedings. The time limit for disposition of a proceeding may not be more than 12 months after the date it begins. In prescribing regulations and issuing orders under this section, the Secretary shall consider existing relevant safety information and standards. The Secretary of Transportation may waive, or suspend the requirement to comply with, any part of a regulation prescribed or an order issued under this chapter if such waiver or suspension is in the public interest and consistent with railroad safety. provide timely public notice of any request for a waiver under this subsection or for a suspension under subpart E of part 211 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or successor regulations; make available the application for such waiver or suspension and any nonconfidential underlying data to interested parties; provide the public with notice and a reasonable opportunity to comment on a proposed waiver or suspension under this subsection before making a final decision; and publish on a publicly accessible website the reasons for granting each such waiver or suspension. Nothing in this subsection may be construed to require the release of information protected by law from public disclosure. in the public interest; and consistent with railroad safety. the relevant safety record under the waiver or suspension; the likelihood that other entities would have similar safety outcomes; the materials submitted in the applications, including any comments regarding such materials; and related rulemaking activity. The Secretary shall publish the review and analysis required under this paragraph in the Federal Register, which shall include a summary of the data collected and all relevant underlying data, if the Secretary decides not to initiate a regulatory update under subparagraph (D). The review and analysis under this paragraph shall be included as part of the notice of proposed rulemaking if the Secretary initiates a regulatory update under subparagraph (D). The Secretary may initiate a rulemaking to incorporate relevant aspects of a waiver under this subsection or a suspension under subpart E of part 211 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or successor regulations, into the relevant regulation, to the extent the Secretary considers appropriate. Nothing in this subsection may be construed to delay any waiver granted pursuant to this subsection that is in the public interest and consistent with railroad safety. The Secretary shall conduct a hearing as provided by section 553 of title 5 when prescribing a regulation or issuing an order under this part, including a regulation or order establishing, amending, or providing a waiver, described in subsection (d), of compliance with a railroad safety regulation prescribed or order issued under this part. An opportunity for an oral presentation shall be provided. In prescribing regulations that pertain to railroad safety that affect tourist, historic, scenic, or excursion railroad carriers, the Secretary of Transportation shall take into consideration any financial, operational, or other factors that may be unique to such railroad carriers. The Secretary shall submit a report to Congress not later than September 30, 1995 , on actions taken under this subsection. it is in the public interest to grant the waiver; the waiver is not inconsistent with railroad safety; and the waiver is necessary to address an actual or impending emergency situation or emergency event. A waiver under this subsection may be issued for a period of not more than 60 days and may be renewed upon application to the Secretary only after notice and an opportunity for a hearing on the waiver. The Secretary shall immediately revoke the waiver if continuation of the waiver would not be consistent with the goals and objectives of this part. The Secretary shall state in the decision issued under this subsection the reasons for granting the waiver. In granting a waiver under this subsection, the Secretary shall consult and coordinate with other Federal agencies, as appropriate, for matters that may impact such agencies. In this subsection, the terms “emergency situation” and “emergency event” mean a natural or manmade disaster, such as a hurricane, flood, earthquake, mudslide, forest fire, snowstorm, terrorist act, biological outbreak, release of a dangerous radiological, chemical, explosive, or biological material, or a war-related activity, that poses a risk of death, serious illness, severe injury, or substantial property damage. The disaster may be local, regional, or national in scope. the adequacy of Locomotive Crashworthiness Requirements Standard S–580, or any successor standard, adopted by the Association of American Railroads in 1989 in improving the safety of locomotive cabs; and the extent to which environmental, sanitary, and other working conditions in locomotive cabs affect productivity, health, and the safe operation of locomotives. braced collision posts; rollover protection devices; deflection plates; shatterproof windows; readily accessible crash refuges; uniform sill heights; anticlimbers, or other equipment designed to prevent overrides resulting from head-on locomotive collisions; equipment to deter post-collision entry of flammable liquids into locomotive cabs; any other devices intended to provide crash protection for occupants of locomotive cabs; and functioning and regularly maintained sanitary facilities; and the effects on train crews of the presence of asbestos in locomotive components. If, on the basis of the proceeding required under paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Secretary decides not to prescribe regulations, the Secretary shall report to Congress on the reasons for that decision.” provide railroad contact information for public safety issues, including a telephone number, to the relevant Federal, State, and local oversight agencies; and post the information described in paragraph (1) on a publicly accessible website.” the identity, quantity, and location of hazardous materials on a train; the point of origin and destination of the train; any emergency response information or resources required by the Secretary; and an emergency response point of contact designated by the Class I railroad; and to provide the electronic train consist information described in subparagraph (A) to authorized State and local first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel that are involved in the response to, or investigation of, an accident, incident, or public health or safety emergency involving the rail transportation of hazardous materials; a reasonable estimate of the number of implicated trains that are expected to travel, per week, through each county within the applicable State; updates to such estimate prior to making any material changes to any volumes or frequencies of trains traveling through a county; identification and a description of the Class 3 flammable liquid being transported on such trains; applicable emergency response information, as required by regulation; identification of the routes over which such liquid will be transported; and a point of contact at the Class I railroad responsible for serving as the point of contact for State emergency response centers and local emergency responders related to the Class I railroad’s transportation of such liquid. require each applicable State emergency response commission to provide to a political subdivision of a State, or public agency responsible for emergency response or law enforcement, upon request of the political subdivision or public agency, the information the commission receives from a Class I railroad pursuant to paragraph (2), including, for any such political subdivision or public agency responsible for emergency response or law enforcement that makes an initial request for such information, any updates received by the State emergency response commission. prohibit any Class I railroad, employee, or agent from withholding, or causing to be withheld, the train consist information from first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel described in paragraph (2) in the event of an incident, accident, or public health or safety emergency involving the rail transportation of hazardous materials; establish security and confidentiality protections, including protections from the public release of proprietary information or security-sensitive information, to prevent the release to unauthorized persons any electronic train consist information or advanced notification or information provided by Class I railroads under this section; and allow each Class I railroad to enter into a memorandum of understanding with any Class II railroad or Class III railroad that operates trains over the Class I railroad’s line to incorporate the Class II railroad or Class III railroad’s train consist information within the existing framework described in paragraph (1). The terms ‘Class I railroad’, ‘Class II railroad’, and ‘Class III railroad’ have the meaning given those terms in section 20102 of title 49 , United States Code. The term ‘Class 3 flammable liquid’ has the meaning given the term flammable liquid in section 173.120(a) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. The term ‘hazardous material’ means a substance or material the Secretary designates as hazardous under section 5103 of title 49 , United States Code. The term ‘high-hazard flammable train’ means a single train transporting 20 or more tank cars loaded with a Class 3 flammable liquid in a continuous block or a single train transporting 35 or more tank cars loaded with a Class 3 flammable liquid throughout the train consist. The term ‘train consist’ includes, with regard to a specific train, the number of rail cars and the commodity transported by each rail car. Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit a Class I railroad from voluntarily entering into a memorandum of understanding with a State emergency response commission or an entity representing or including first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel.” The Secretary [of Transportation] shall promulgate a rule to require a working alerter in the controlling locomotive of each passenger train in intercity rail passenger transportation (as defined in section 24102 of title 49 , United States Code) or commuter rail passenger transportation (as defined in section 24102 of title 49 , United States Code). The Secretary may promulgate a rule to specify the essential functionalities of a working alerter, including the manner in which the alerter can be reset. The Secretary may require or allow a technology or practice in lieu of a working alerter if the Secretary determines that the technology or practice would achieve an equivalent or greater level of safety in enhancing or ensuring appropriate locomotive control.” Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act [ Oct. 16, 2008 ], the Secretary, through the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee if the Secretary makes such a request, shall complete a study on the safety impact of the use of personal electronic devices, including cell phones, video games, and other distracting devices, by safety-related railroad employees (as defined in section 20102(4) of title 49 , United States Code), during the performance of such employees’ duties. The study shall consider the prevalence of the use of such devices. The Secretary may also study other elements of the locomotive cab environment and their effect on an employee’s health and safety. Not later than 6 months after the completion of any study under this section, the Secretary shall issue a report on the study to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Based on the conclusions of the study required under (a), the Secretary of Transportation may prohibit the use of personal electronic devices, such as cell phones, video games, or other electronic devices that may distract employees from safely performing their duties, unless those devices are being used according to railroad operating rules or for other work purposes. Based on the conclusions of other studies conducted under subsection (b), the Secretary may prescribe regulations to improve elements of the cab environment to protect an employee’s health and safety.” are longer than 1000 feet and located under a city with a population of 400,000 or greater; or carry 5 or more scheduled passenger trains per day, or 500 or more carloads of poison- or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous materials (as defined in sections 171.8, 173.115, and 173.132 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations) per year, Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act [ Oct. 16, 2008 ], the Secretary shall promulgate a regulation requiring owners of track carried on one or more railroad bridges to adopt a bridge safety management program to prevent the deterioration of railroad bridges and reduce the risk of human casualties, environmental damage, and disruption to the Nation’s railroad transportation system that would result from a catastrophic bridge failure. to develop and maintain an accurate inventory of its railroad bridges, which shall identify the location of each bridge, its configuration, type of construction, number of spans, span lengths, and all other information necessary to provide for the safe management of the bridges; to ensure that a professional engineer competent in the field of railroad bridge engineering, or a qualified person under the supervision of the track owner, determines bridge capacity; to maintain, and update as appropriate, a record of the safe capacity of each bridge which carries its track and, if available, maintain the original design documents of each bridge and a documentation of all repairs, modifications, and inspections of the bridge; to develop, maintain, and enforce a written procedure that will ensure that its bridges are not loaded beyond their capacities; to conduct regular comprehensive inspections of each bridge, at least once every year, and maintain records of those inspections that include the date on which the inspection was performed, the precise identification of the bridge inspected, the items inspected, an accurate description of the condition of those items, and a narrative of any inspection item that is found by the inspector to be a potential problem; to ensure that the level of detail and the inspection procedures are appropriate to the configuration of the bridge, conditions found during previous inspections, and the nature of the railroad traffic moved over the bridge, including car weights, train frequency and length, levels of passenger and hazardous materials traffic, and vulnerability of the bridge to damage; is responsible for the development of all inspection procedures; reviews all inspection reports; and determines whether bridges are being inspected according to the applicable procedures and frequency, and reviews any items noted by an inspector as exceptions; and to designate qualified bridge inspectors or maintenance personnel to authorize the operation of trains on bridges following repairs, damage, or indications of potential structural problems. The Secretary shall instruct bridge experts to obtain copies of the most recent bridge management programs of each railroad within the expert’s areas of responsibility, and require that experts use those programs when conducting bridge observations. The Secretary shall establish a program to periodically review bridge inspection and maintenance data from railroad carrier bridge inspectors and Federal Railroad Administration bridge experts. A State or political subdivision of a State may file a request with the Secretary for a public version of a bridge inspection report generated under subsection (b)(5) for a bridge located in such State or political subdivision’s jurisdiction. If the Secretary determines that the request is reasonable, the Secretary shall require a railroad to submit a public version of the most recent bridge inspection report, such as a summary form, for a bridge subject to a request under subparagraph (A). The public version of a bridge inspection report shall include the date of last inspection, length of bridge, location of bridge, type of bridge, type of structure, feature crossed by bridge, and railroad contact information, along with a general statement on the condition of the bridge. The Secretary shall provide to a State or political subdivision of a State a public version of a bridge inspection report submitted under subparagraph (B). The Secretary, upon the reasonable request of State or political subdivision of a State, shall provide technical assistance to such State or political subdivision of a State to facilitate the understanding of a bridge inspection report.”