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tem, and shall prescribe appropriate fatigue counter-
measures to address those varying circumstances. 
‘‘(2) ISSUES AFFECTING ALL EMPLOYEES PER-
FORMING SAFETY SENSITIVE FUNCTIONS.—The rail-
road carrier shall consider the need to include in its 
fatigue management plan elements addressing each 
of the following issues: 
‘‘(A) Education and training on the phys-
iological and human factors that affect fatigue, 
as well as strategies to counter fatigue, based 
on current and evolving scientific and medical 
research and literature. 
‘‘(B) Opportunities for identification, diag-
nosis, and treatment of any medical condition 
that may affect alertness or fatigue, including 
sleep disorders. 
‘‘(C) Effects on employee fatigue of emer-
gency response involving both short-term emer-
gency situations, including derailments, and 
long-term emergency situations, including nat-
ural disasters. 
‘‘(D) Scheduling practices involving train 
lineups and calling times, including work/rest 
cycles for shift workers and on-call employees 
that permit employees to compensate for cumu-
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lative sleep loss by guaranteeing a minimum 
number of consecutive days off (exclusive of 
time off due to illness or injury). 
‘‘(E) Minimizing the incidence of fatigue 
that occurs as a result of working at times 
when the natural circadian rhythm increases fa-
tigue. 
‘‘(F) Alertness strategies, such as policies 
on napping, to address acute sleepiness and fa-
tigue while an employee is on duty. 
‘‘(G) Opportunities to obtain restful sleep 
at lodging facilities, including sleeping quarters 
provided by the railroad carrier. 
‘‘(H) In connection with the scheduling of 
a duty call, increasing the number of consecu-
tive hours of rest off duty, during which an em-
ployee receives no communication from the em-
ploying railroad carrier or its managers, super-
visors, officers, or agents. 
‘‘(I) Avoiding abrupt changes in rest cycles 
for employees returning to duty after an ex-
tended absence due to circumstances such as ill-
ness or injury. 
‘‘(J) Additional elements as the Secretary 
considers appropriate. 
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‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE
REQUIREMENT.—Effective 
upon approval or prescription of a fatigue manage-
ment plan, compliance with that fatigue manage-
ment plan becomes mandatory and enforceable by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—A fatigue manage-
ment plan may include effective dates later than the 
date of approval of the plan, and may include dif-
ferent effective dates for different parts of the plan. 
‘‘(3) AUDITS.—To enforce this section, the Sec-
retary may conduct inspections and periodic audits 
of a railroad carrier’s compliance with its fatigue 
management plan. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section the 
term ‘directly affected employees’ means employees, in-
cluding employees of an independent contractor or subcon-
tractor, to whose hours of service the terms of a fatigue 
management plan specifically apply.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections for chapter 211 of title 49, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 
‘‘21109. Fatigue management plans.’’. 
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SEC. 204. REGULATORY AUTHORITY. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 211 of title 49, United 
States Code, as amended by this Act, is further amended 
by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 21110. Regulatory authority 
‘‘The Secretary of Transportation may by regula-
tion— 
‘‘(1) reduce the maximum hours an employee 
may be required or allowed to go or remain on duty 
to a level less than the level established under this 
chapter, based on scientific and medical research; or 
‘‘(2) increase the minimum hours an employee 
may be required or allowed to rest to a level greater 
than the level established under this chapter, based 
on scientific and medical research.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections for chapter 211 of title 49, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 
‘‘21110. Regulatory authority.’’. 
SEC. 205. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 
Section 21303(c) of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ‘‘officers and agents’’ and inserting 
‘‘managers, supervisors, officers, and agents’’. 
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TITLE III—BRIDGE SAFETY 
SEC. 301. RAILROAD BRIDGE SAFETY ASSURANCE. 
Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Railroad Safety Administration 
shall implement regulations requiring owners of track car-
ried on one or more railroad bridges to adopt safety prac-
tices to prevent the deterioration of railroad bridges and 
reduce the risk of human casualties, environmental dam-
age, and disruption to the Nation’s transportation system 
that would result from a catastrophic bridge failure. The 
regulations shall, at a minimum— 
(1) require each track owner to— 
(A) develop and maintain an accurate in-
ventory of its railroad bridges, which shall iden-
tify the location of each bridge, its configura-
tion, type of construction, number of spans, 
span lengths, and all other information nec-
essary to provide for the safe management of 
the bridges; 
(B) ensure that a professional engineer 
competent in the field of railroad bridge engi-
neering, or a qualified person under the super-
vision of the track owner, determines bridge ca-
pacity; 
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(C) 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; 
(D) develop, maintain, and enforce a writ-
ten procedure that will ensure that its bridges 
are not loaded beyond their capacities; 
(E) conduct regular comprehensive inspec-
tions of each bridge, at least once per year, and 
maintain records of those inspections that in-
clude the date on which the inspection was per-
formed, the precise identification of the bridge 
inspected, the items inspected, an accurate de-
scription of the condition of those items, and a 
narrative of any inspection item that is found 
by the inspector to be a potential problem; 
(F) 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, in-
cluding car weights, train frequency and length, 
levels of passenger and hazardous materials 
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traffic, and vulnerability of the bridge to dam-
age; 
(G) ensure that an engineer who is com-
petent in the field of railroad bridge engineer-
ing— 
(i) is responsible for the development 
of all inspection procedures; 
(ii) reviews all inspection reports; and 
(iii) determines whether bridges are 
being inspected according to the applicable 
procedures and frequency, and reviews any 
items noted by an inspector as exceptions; 
and 
(H) designate qualified bridge inspectors 
or maintenance personnel to authorize the oper-
ation of trains on bridges following repairs, 
damage, or indications of potential structural 
problems; 
(2) instruct Administration bridge inspectors to 
obtain copies of the most recent bridge management 
programs and procedures of each railroad within the 
inspector’s areas of responsibility, and require that 
inspectors use those programs when conducting 
bridge inspections; and 
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(3) establish a program to review bridge inspec-
tion and maintenance data from railroads and Ad-
ministration bridge inspectors periodically. 
TITLE IV—GRADE CROSSINGS 
SEC. 401. TOLL-FREE NUMBER TO REPORT GRADE CROSS-
ING PROBLEMS. 
Section 20152 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 20152. Emergency notification of grade crossing 
problems 
‘‘Not later than 18 months after the date of enact-
ment of the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 
2007, the Secretary of Transportation shall require each 
railroad carrier to— 
‘‘(1) establish and maintain a toll-free telephone 
service, for rights-of-way over which it dispatches 
trains, to directly receive calls reporting— 
‘‘(A) malfunctions of signals, crossing 
gates, and other devices to promote safety at 
the grade crossing of railroad tracks on those 
rights-of-way and public or private roads; and 
‘‘(B) disabled vehicles blocking railroad 
tracks at such grade crossings; 
‘‘(2) upon receiving a report of a malfunction or 
disabled vehicle pursuant to paragraph (1), imme-
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diately contact trains operating near the grade 
crossing to warn them of the malfunction or disabled 
vehicle; 
‘‘(3) upon receiving a report of a malfunction or 
disabled vehicle pursuant to paragraph (1), and 
after contacting trains pursuant to paragraph (2), 
contact, as necessary, appropriate public safety offi-
cials having jurisdiction over the grade crossing to 
provide them with the information necessary for 
them to direct traffic, assist in the removal of the 
disabled vehicle, or carry out other activities appro-
priate to responding to the hazardous circumstance; 
and 
‘‘(4) ensure the placement at each grade cross-
ing on rights-of-way that it owns of appropriately lo-
cated signs, on which shall appear, at a minimum— 
‘‘(A) a toll-free telephone number to be 
used for placing calls described in paragraph 
(1) to the railroad carrier dispatching trains on 
that right-of-way; 
‘‘(B) an explanation of the purpose of that 
toll-free number as described in paragraph (1); 
and 
‘‘(C) the grade crossing number assigned 
for that crossing by the National Highway-Rail 
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Crossing Inventory established by the Depart-
ment of Transportation. 
The Secretary of Transportation shall implement this sec-
tion through appropriate regulations.’’. 
SEC. 402. ROADWAY USER SIGHT DISTANCE AT HIGHWAY- 
RAIL GRADE CROSSINGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 201 of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 20156. Roadway user sight distance at highway- 
rail grade crossings 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 
the date of enactment of the Federal Railroad Safety Im-
provement Act of 2007, the Secretary of Transportation 
shall prescribe regulations that require each railroad car-
rier to remove from its rights-of-way at all public highway- 
rail grade crossings, and at all private highway-rail grade 
crossings open to unrestricted public access (as declared 
in writing by the holder of the crossing right), grass, 
brush, shrubbery, trees, and other vegetation which may 
obstruct the view of a pedestrian or a vehicle operator for 
a reasonable distance in either direction of the train’s ap-
proach, and to maintain its rights-of-way at all such cross-
ings free of such vegetation. In prescribing the regula-
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tions, the Secretary shall take into consideration to the 
extent practicable— 
‘‘(1) the type of warning device or warning de-
vices installed at the crossing; 
‘‘(2) factors affecting the timeliness and effec-
tiveness of roadway user decisionmaking, including 
the maximum allowable roadway speed, maximum 
authorized train speed, angle of intersection, and to-
pography; 
‘‘(3) the presence or absence of other sight dis-
tance obstructions off the railroad right-of-way; and 
‘‘(4) any other factors affecting safety at such 
crossings. 
‘‘(b) PROTECTED VEGETATION.—In promulgating 
regulations pursuant to this section, the Secretary may 
make allowance for preservation of trees and other orna-
mental or protective growth where State or local law or 
policy would otherwise protect the vegetation from removal 
and where the roadway authority or private crossing hold-
er is notified of the sight distance obstruction and, within 
a reasonable period specified by the regulation, takes ap-
propriate temporary and permanent action to abate the 
hazard to roadway users (such as by closing the crossing, 
posting supplementary signage, installing active warning 
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