Union Calendar No. 355

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4545

[Report No. 103–655]

A BILL

To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970,

and for other purposes.

AUGUST 3, 1994

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee

dered to be printedof the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-
IB

Union Calendar No. 355

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4545

[Report No. 103–655]

To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1994

Mr. SWIFT (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Energy and Commerce

AUGUST 3, 1994

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 8, 1994]

A BILL

To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, 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 Safety

5 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 following

4 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 following

12 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 af16 fected covered service employees of the railroad or railroads,

17 may jointly petition the Secretary of Transportation for

18 approval of a waiver, in whole or in part, of compliance

19 with this chapter, to enable the establishment of one or more

20 pilot projects to demonstrate the possible benefits of imple21 menting alternatives to the strict application of the require22 ments of this chapter to such class or craft of employees,

23 including requirements concerning maximum on-duty and

24 minimum off-duty periods. Based on such a joint petition,

25 the Secretary may, after notice and opportunity for com26 ment, waive in whole or in part compliance with this chap-
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1 ter for a period of no more than two years, if the Secretary

2 determines that such waiver of compliance is in the public

3 interest and is consistent with railroad safety. Any such

4 waiver may, based on a new petition, be extended for addi5 tional periods of up to two years, after notice and oppor6 tunity for comment. An explanation of any waiver granted

7 under this section shall be published in the Federal Register.

8 ‘‘(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of Transportation shall

9 submit to Congress, no later than January 1, 1997, a report

10 that—

11 ‘‘(1) explains and analyzes the effectiveness of all

12 pilot projects established pursuant to a waiver grant13 ed under subsection (a);

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

15 granted under subsection (a) and their related pilot

16 projects, if any; and

17 ‘‘(3) recommends appropriate legislative changes

18 to this chapter.

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

20 term ‘directly affected covered service employees’ means cov21 ered service employees to whose hours of service the terms

22 of the waiver petitioned for specifically apply.’’.

23 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of

24 sections for chapter 211 of title 49, United States Code, is

25 amended by adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘21108. Pilot projects.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING HOURS OF

2 SERVICE VIOLATIONS.

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

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

5 waiver applicable to that person that has been granted

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

7 title’’.

8 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT REGARDING FEDERAL

9 RAILROAD SAFETY.

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

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

12 transferred to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Transpor13 tation by subsection (e) (1), (2), and (6)(A) of section 6

14 of the Department of Transportation Act, as in effect on

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

16 SEC. 6. BIENNIAL FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY REPORTING.

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

18 amended—

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

20 inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Biennial’’;

21 (2) by striking ‘‘not later than July 1 of each

22 year a report on carrying out this chapter for the

23 prior calendar year. The report shall include the fol24 lowing information about the prior year’’ and insert25 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘every two years, on or before July

26 1 of the year due, a comprehensive report on the ad-
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1 ministration of this chapter for the preceding two cal2 endar years. The report shall include the following in3 formation about such calendar years’’; and

4 (3) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, by calendar

5 year’’ after ‘‘casualties by cause’’.

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

7 sections for chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, is

8 amended to read as follows:

‘‘20116. Biennial report.’’.

9 SEC. 7. REPORT ON BRIDGE DISPLACEMENT DETECTION

10 SYSTEMS.

11 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment

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

13 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate

14 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House

15 of Representatives a report concerning any action that has

16 been taken by the Secretary on railroad bridge displacement

17 detection systems.

18 SEC. 8. TRACK SAFETY.

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

20 amended—

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

22 1994’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘September 1,

23 1995’’;
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1 (2) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘, includ2 ing cold weather installation procedures’’ after ‘‘at3 tendant structure’’; and

4 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub5 section:

6 ‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION OF INTERNAL RAIL DEFECTS.—

7 In carrying out subsections (a) and (b), the Secretary shall

8 consider whether or not to prescribe regulations and issue

9 orders concerning—

10 ‘‘(1) inspection procedures to identify internal

11 rail defects, before they reach imminent failure size,

12 in rail that has significant shelling; and

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

14 when a rail surface condition, such as shelling, pre15 vents the identification of internal defects.’’.

Amend the title so as to read as follows: ‘‘A bill to

amend the rail safety provisions of title 49, United States

Code, and for other purposes.’’.