I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2095 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to prevent railroad fatalities, injuries, 
and hazardous materials releases, to authorize the Federal Railroad 
Safety Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2007 
Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself and Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to prevent railroad 
fatalities, injuries, and hazardous materials releases, to 
authorize the Federal Railroad Safety Administration, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
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Sec. 2. Definitions. 
TITLE I—FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ADMINISTRATION 
Sec. 101. Establishment of Federal Railroad Safety Administration. 
Sec. 102. Railroad safety strategy. 
Sec. 103. Reports. 
Sec. 104. Rulemaking process. 
Sec. 105. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE II—EMPLOYEE FATIGUE 
Sec. 201. Hours of service reform. 
Sec. 202. Employee sleeping quarters. 
Sec. 203. Fatigue management plans. 
Sec. 204. Regulatory authority. 
Sec. 205. Conforming amendment. 
TITLE III—PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES AND WITNESSES 
Sec. 301. Employee protections. 
TITLE IV—GRADE CROSSINGS 
Sec. 401. Toll-free number to report grade crossing problems. 
Sec. 402. Roadway user sight distance at highway-rail grade crossings. 
Sec. 403. Grade crossing signal violations. 
Sec. 404. National crossing inventory. 
Sec. 405. Accident and incident reporting. 
Sec. 406. Authority to buy promotional items to improve railroad crossing safe-
ty and prevent railroad trespass. 
TITLE V—ENFORCEMENT 
Sec. 501. Enforcement. 
Sec. 502. Civil penalties. 
Sec. 503. Criminal penalties. 
Sec. 504. Expansion of emergency order authority. 
Sec. 505. Enforcement transparency. 
Sec. 506. Interfering with or hampering safety investigations. 
Sec. 507. Railroad radio monitoring authority. 
Sec. 508. Inspector staffing. 
TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
Sec. 601. Positive train control systems. 
Sec. 602. Warning in nonsignaled territory. 
Sec. 603. Track safety. 
Sec. 604. Certification of conductors. 
Sec. 605. Minimum training standards. 
Sec. 606. Prompt medical attention. 
Sec. 607. Emergency escape breathing apparatus. 
Sec. 608. Locomotive cab environment. 
TITLE VII—RAIL PASSENGER DISASTER FAMILY ASSISTANCE 
Sec. 701. Short title. 
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Sec. 702. Assistance by National Transportation Safety Board to families of 
passengers involved in rail passenger accidents. 
Sec. 703. Rail passenger carrier plans to address needs of families of pas-
sengers involved in rail passenger accidents. 
Sec. 704. Establishment of task force. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act, the terms ‘‘railroad’’ and 
‘‘railroad carrier’’ have the meaning given those terms in 
section 20102 of title 49, United States Code. 
TITLE I—FEDERAL RAILROAD 
SAFETY ADMINISTRATION 
SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY 
ADMINISTRATION. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 103 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 103. Federal Railroad Safety Administration 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Railroad Safety Ad-
ministration (in this section referred to as the ‘Adminis-
tration’) shall be an administration in the Department of 
Transportation. To carry out all railroad safety laws of 
the United States, the Administration shall be divided on 
a geographical basis into at least 8 safety offices. The Sec-
retary of Transportation shall be responsible for enforcing 
those laws and for ensuring that those laws are uniformly 
administered and enforced among the safety offices. 
‘‘(b) SAFETY AS HIGHEST PRIORITY.—In carrying 
out its duties, the Administration shall consider the as-
signment and maintenance of safety as the highest pri-
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