103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4545

AN ACT

To amend the rail safety provisions of title 49, United States

Code, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Railroad Safe5 ty Authorization Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 Section 20117(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code,

3 is amended by adding after subparagraph (B) the follow4 ing new subparagraphs:

5 ‘‘(C) $68,289,000 for fiscal year 1995.

6 ‘‘(D) $75,112,000 for fiscal year 1996.

7 ‘‘(E) $82,563,000 for fiscal year 1997.

8 ‘‘(F) $90,739,000 for fiscal year 1998.’’.

9 SEC. 3. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS.

10 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 211 of title 49, United

11 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow12 ing new section:

13 ‘‘SEC. 21108. PILOT PROJECTS.

14 ‘‘(a) WAIVER.—A railroad or railroads and all labor

15 organizations representing any class or craft of directly

16 affected covered service employees of the railroad or rail17 roads, may jointly petition the Secretary of Transpor18 tation for approval of a waiver, in whole or in part, of

19 compliance with this chapter, to enable the establishment

20 of one or more pilot projects to demonstrate the possible

21 benefits of implementing alternatives to the strict applica22 tion of the requirements of this chapter to such class or

23 craft of employees, including requirements concerning

24 maximum on-duty and minimum off-duty periods. Based

25 on such a joint petition, the Secretary may, after notice

26 and opportunity for comment, waive in whole or in part
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1 compliance with this chapter for a period of no more than

2 two years, if the Secretary determines that such waiver

3 of compliance is in the public interest and is consistent

4 with railroad safety. Any such waiver may, based on a new

5 petition, be extended for additional periods of up to two

6 years, after notice and opportunity for comment. An expla7 nation of any waiver granted under this section shall be

8 published in the Federal Register.

9 ‘‘(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of Transportation

10 shall submit to Congress, no later than January 1, 1997,

11 a report that—

12 ‘‘(1) explains and analyzes the effectiveness of

13 all pilot projects established pursuant to a waiver

14 granted under subsection (a);

15 ‘‘(2) describes the status of all other waivers

16 granted under subsection (a) and their related pilot

17 projects, if any; and

18 ‘‘(3) recommends appropriate legislative

19 changes to this chapter.

20 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

21 term ‘directly affected covered service employees’ means

22 covered service employees to whose hours of service the

23 terms of the waiver petitioned for specifically apply.’’.
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1 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of

2 sections for chapter 211 of title 49, United States Code,

3 is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘21108. Pilot projects.’’.

4 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING HOURS OF

5 SERVICE VIOLATIONS.

6 Section 21303(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code,

7 is amended by inserting ‘‘or violating any provision of a

8 waiver applicable to that person that has been granted

9 under section 21108 of this title,’’ after ‘‘chapter 211 of

10 this title’’.

11 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT REGARDING FEDERAL

12 RAILROAD SAFETY.

13 Section 20111(c) of title 49, United States Code, is

14 amended by inserting ‘‘this chapter or any of the laws

15 transferred to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Trans16 portation by subsection (e) (1), (2), and (6)(A) of section

17 6 of the Department of Transportation Act, as in effect

18 on June 1, 1994, or’’ after ‘‘individual’s violation of’’.

19 SEC. 6. BIENNIAL FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY REPORT20 ING.

21 (a) Section 20116 of title 49, United States Code,

22 is amended—

23 (1) by striking in its heading ‘‘Annual’’ and

24 inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Biennial’’;
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘not later than July 1 of each

2 year a report on carrying out this chapter for the

3 prior calendar year. The report shall include the fol4 lowing information about the prior year’’ and insert5 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘every two years, on or before

6 July 1 of the year due, a comprehensive report on

7 the administration of this chapter for the preceding

8 two calendar years. The report shall include the fol9 lowing information about such calendar years’’; and

10 (3) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, by cal11 endar year’’ after ‘‘casualties by cause’’.

12 (b) The item relating to section 20116 in the table

13 of sections for chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code,

14 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘20116. Biennial report.’’.

15 SEC. 7. REPORT ON BRIDGE DISPLACEMENT DETECTION

16 SYSTEMS.

17 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment

18 of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit to the Committee

19 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate

20 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the

21 House of Representatives a report concerning any action

22 that has been taken by the Secretary on railroad bridge

23 displacement detection systems.
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1 SEC. 8. TRACK SAFETY.

2 Section 20142 of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘September 3,

5 1994’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘September 1,

6 1995’’;

7 (2) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘, includ8 ing cold weather installation procedures’’ after ‘‘at9 tendant structure’’; and

10 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub11 section:

12 ‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION OF INTERNAL RAIL DE13 FECTS.—In carrying out subsections (a) and (b), the Sec14 retary shall consider whether or not to prescribe regula15 tions and issue orders concerning—

16 ‘‘(1) inspection procedures to identify internal

17 rail defects, before they reach imminent failure size,

18 in rail that has significant shelling; and

19 ‘‘(2) any specific actions that should be taken

20 when a rail surface condition, such as shelling, pre21 vents the identification of internal defects.’’.
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1 SEC. 9. RESIDENCE OF EMPLOYEES.

2 The amendments made by section 7 of the Amtrak

3 Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 1990 shall apply

4 to all periods before and after the date of their enactment.

Passed the House of Representatives August 8,

1994.

Attest:

Clerk.
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4545

AN ACT

To amend the rail safety provisions of title 49,

United States Code, and for other purposes.