49 U.S.C. § 20148 — Railroad car visibility

(a) Review of Rules. The Secretary of Transportation must review the Department of Transportation's rules about how visible railroad cars are to others. As part of that review, the Secretary must gather real-world data from railroads that already use enhanced visibility measures. (b) Regulations. If that review shows that better visibility would likely improve safety in a cost-effective way, the Secretary must start a rulemaking process to set enhanced visibility standards for newly manufactured and rebuilt, or "remanufactured," railroad cars. While writing those rules, the Secretary must at least consider: (1) how visible railroad cars are to traffic that is not on the railroad; (2) whether certain paint colors on railroad cars should be required or banned; (3) using reflective materials; (4) how visible lettering on the cars is; (5) how any new visibility measures would affect the health and safety of train crews; and (6) the cost-benefit ratio of any new rules. (c) Exclusions. When writing these regulations, the Secretary may exempt any category of trains or railroad operations from a specific visibility rule, if the Secretary decides that exemption serves the public interest and does not compromise railroad safety.