II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1506 

To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish national safety 

standards for transit agencies operating heavy rail on fixed guideway. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2009 

Mr. REID (for Ms. MIKULSKI (for herself, Mr. CARDIN, and Mrs. MURRAY)) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish 

national safety standards for transit agencies operating 

heavy rail on fixed guideway. 

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 ‘‘National Metro Safety 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Every weekday more than 7,000,000 people 

9 board rail transit vehicles in the United States. 


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1 (2) Despite the National Transportation Safety 

2 Board’s recommendations to the Federal Transit 

3 Administration to establish and enforce Federal 

4 safety standards for transit agencies operating heavy 

5 rail on fixed guideway, the Federal Transit Adminis6 tration has not taken action because of a perceived 

7 absence of authority to establish such standards. 

8 (3) The Federal Transit Administration has not 

9 established minimum Federal standards that govern 

10 the structural crashworthiness of heavy rail pas11 senger cars on fixed guideway. 

12 (4) The National Transportation Safety Board 

13 concluded that the failure to have minimum crash14 worthiness standards places an unnecessary risk on 

15 passengers and crew. 

16 (5) The Federal Transit Administration does 

17 not have any requirements that rail transit cars be 

18 equipped with means for safe and rapid emergency 

19 responder entry and passenger evacuation. 

20 (6) Although the installation of data recorders 

21 on rail transit cars would help investigators deter22 mine the factors contributing to crashes, the Federal 

23 Transit Administration does not require such instal24 lation. 


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1 (7) Although the National Transit Safety 

2 Board has expressed concern that the hours of serv3 ice practices of transit agencies do not provide tran4 sit vehicle operators with the opportunity to obtain 

5 adequate sleep to be fully alert and to operate safely, 

6 the Federal Transit Administration does not have 

7 hours of service regulations to govern the practices 

8 of transit agencies. 

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL RAIL TRANSIT SAFETY STANDARDS. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Notwithstanding section 

11 5334(b)(1) of title 49, United States Code, the Secretary 

12 of Transportation, in consultation with the National 

13 Transportation Safety Board shall, by regulation, develop, 

14 implement, and enforce national safety standards for tran15 sit agencies operating heavy rail on fixed guideway. 

16 (b) INCLUSION OF NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS.—The 

17 standards established under subsection (a) shall include 

18 the standards recommended to the Federal Transit Ad19 ministration by the National Transportation Safety Board 

20 related to crashworthiness, emergency access and egress, 

21 event recorders, and hours of service. 

22 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor24 tation shall submit a report to Congress that describes the 


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1 progress made in establishing the standards described in 

2 subsection (a). 

Æ 


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