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 

NOVEMBER 4, 2009 

Committee discharged; referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

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: 


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

2 board rail transit vehicles in the United States. 

3 (2) Despite the National Transportation Safety 

4 Board’s recommendations to the Federal Transit 

5 Administration to establish and enforce Federal 

6 safety standards for transit agencies operating heavy 

7 rail on fixed guideway, the Federal Transit Adminis8 tration has not taken action because of a perceived 

9 absence of authority to establish such standards. 

10 (3) The Federal Transit Administration has not 

11 established minimum Federal standards that govern 

12 the structural crashworthiness of heavy rail pas13 senger cars on fixed guideway. 

14 (4) The National Transportation Safety Board 

15 concluded that the failure to have minimum crash16 worthiness standards places an unnecessary risk on 

17 passengers and crew. 

18 (5) The Federal Transit Administration does 

19 not have any requirements that rail transit cars be 

20 equipped with means for safe and rapid emergency 

21 responder entry and passenger evacuation. 

22 (6) Although the installation of data recorders 

23 on rail transit cars would help investigators deter24 mine the factors contributing to crashes, the Federal 


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1 Transit Administration does not require such instal2 lation. 

3 (7) Although the National Transit Safety 

4 Board has expressed concern that the hours of serv5 ice practices of transit agencies do not provide tran6 sit vehicle operators with the opportunity to obtain 

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

8 the Federal Transit Administration does not have 

9 hours of service regulations to govern the practices 

10 of transit agencies. 

11 SEC. 3. NATIONAL RAIL TRANSIT SAFETY STANDARDS. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Notwithstanding section 

13 5334(b)(1) of title 49, United States Code, the Secretary 

14 of Transportation, in consultation with the National 

15 Transportation Safety Board shall, by regulation, develop, 

16 implement, and enforce national safety standards for tran17 sit agencies operating heavy rail on fixed guideway. 

18 (b) INCLUSION OF NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS.—The 

19 standards established under subsection (a) shall include 

20 the standards recommended to the Federal Transit Ad21 ministration by the National Transportation Safety Board 

22 related to crashworthiness, emergency access and egress, 

23 event recorders, and hours of service. 

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

25 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of TransporVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:52 Nov 05, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1506.RCS S1506

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1 tation shall submit a report to Congress that describes the 

2 progress made in establishing the standards described in 

3 subsection (a). 

Æ 


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