49 U.S.C. § 20156 — Railroad safety risk reduction program

(a) In General. (1) Program requirement: within 4 years after the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 became law, the Secretary of Transportation must, by regulation, require certain railroad carriers — a Class I railroad, a railroad the Secretary determines has inadequate safety performance, or a railroad that provides intercity or commuter passenger service — to develop a railroad safety risk reduction program, described in (d), that systematically evaluates safety risks across its system and manages them to cut down the number and rate of accidents, incidents, injuries, and deaths; submit that program, including any required plans, to the Secretary for review and approval; and carry out the program and plans the Secretary approves. (2) Using pilot programs first: before, and after, writing these regulations, the Secretary may run behavior-based safety research and pilot programs, and must use what is learned from them in developing the regulations. (3) Review and approval: the Secretary must review and approve or reject each program within a reasonable time. If a plan is not approved, the Secretary must tell the railroad specifically what is deficient, and the railroad must fix those problems within a reasonable time after getting that notice. The Secretary must also review, every year, whether railroads are actually following their approved plans. (4) Voluntary programs: a railroad that is not required to submit a program may choose to submit one anyway, meeting this section's requirements, and the Secretary must approve or reject it. (b) Certification. The top safety official at each required railroad must certify that the program's contents are accurate and that the railroad will actually carry out what the Secretary approved. (c) Risk Analysis. In building its program, each required railroad must identify and study everything that affects its safety — operating rules and practices, infrastructure, equipment, staffing levels and schedules, safety culture, management structure, employee training, and anything else — including things not already covered by other safety regulations. (d) Program Elements. (1) In general: each required railroad's program must aim to cut the number and rate of accidents, incidents, injuries, and deaths, based on the risk analysis from (c), by reducing things that raise safety risks and strengthening things that lower them. (2) Required parts: every program must include a risk mitigation plan, a technology implementation plan meeting (e)'s requirements, and a fatigue management plan meeting (f)'s requirements. (e) Technology Implementation Plan. (1) In general: as part of its program, each required railroad must create, and update as needed, a 10-year plan describing how it will develop, adopt, put in place, maintain, and use current, new, or brand-new technologies over that decade to cut the safety risks the program identified. The Secretary must review and approve any updates. (2) What the plan analyzes: the technology plan must analyze the safety impact, feasibility, costs, and benefits of technologies such as processor-based systems, positive train control, electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, rail integrity inspection and warning systems, switch position monitors, trespasser prevention technology, grade-crossing technology, and any other new safety technology that could help with the risks identified in (c). (3) Schedule: the plan must include a prioritized schedule for developing, adopting, and using these technologies. (4) Positive train control: except as section 20157 separately requires, the Secretary must make sure each railroad follows the positive-train-control schedule in its own technology plan, and that each required railroad actually has positive train control running by December 31, 2018. (f) Fatigue Management Plan. (1) In general: as part of its program, each required railroad must create, and update at least every 2 years, a plan to reduce fatigue among safety-related employees and to cut down on accidents, incidents, injuries, and deaths that fatigue causes. The Secretary must review and approve any updates. (2) Targeted countermeasures: the plan must account for how operations differ across the railroad's system and set fatigue countermeasures suited to each situation. (3) Things to consider including: the railroad must consider covering training employees on the science of fatigue and how to reduce it; chances to identify, diagnose, and treat medical conditions, including sleep disorders, that affect alertness; how fatigue builds up when employees respond to emergencies like derailments or work long, intense shifts; scheduling practices — like innovative schedules, on-call rules, work and rest cycles, more consecutive days off, shift changes, and other scheduling fixes — that reduce fatigue and cumulative sleep loss; ways to cut accidents that happen when fatigue disrupts employees' natural sleep rhythms; alertness strategies, like napping policies, for on-duty drowsiness; chances for restful sleep at lodging, including railroad-provided sleeping quarters; more consecutive off-duty hours where the employee gets no contact from the railroad; avoiding sudden changes to employees' rest schedules; and anything else the Secretary thinks is appropriate. (g) Consensus. (1) In general: each required railroad must consult with, act in good faith toward, and try its best to reach agreement with its directly affected employees, including any labor union representing them, on what goes into the safety program. (2) If they disagree: if the railroad and its employees, or their union, cannot agree, the employees or union may file a statement with the Secretary explaining their views on the parts they disagree with. The Secretary must consider that statement when reviewing and approving the program. (h) Enforcement. The Secretary can issue civil penalties, under chapter 213, for violating this section — including for failing to submit, certify, or follow a safety risk reduction program, risk mitigation plan, technology implementation plan, or fatigue management plan.