P.l. 103-272

II

103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION

H. R. 4545

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
AUGUST 9 (legislative day, AUGUST 8), 1994
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation
OCTOBER 6 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994
Committee discharged

AN ACT
To amend the rail safety provisions of title 49, United States
Code, and for other purposes.
1

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3
4

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Railroad Safe-

5 ty Authorization Act of 1994’’.

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2

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 20117(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code,

3 is amended by adding after subparagraph (B) the follow4 ing new subparagraphs:
5

‘‘(C) $68,289,000 for fiscal year 1995.

6

‘‘(D) $75,112,000 for fiscal year 1996.

7

‘‘(E) $82,563,000 for fiscal year 1997.

8

‘‘(F) $90,739,000 for fiscal year 1998.’’.

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10

SEC. 3. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS.

(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 211 of title 49, United

11 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow12 ing new section:
13
14

‘‘SEC. 21108. PILOT PROJECTS.

‘‘(a) WAIVER.—A railroad or railroads and all labor

15 organizations representing any class or craft of directly
16 affected covered service employees of the railroad or rail17 roads, may jointly petition the Secretary of Transpor18 tation for approval of a waiver, in whole or in part, of
19 compliance with this chapter, to enable the establishment
20 of one or more pilot projects to demonstrate the possible
21 benefits of implementing alternatives to the strict applica22 tion of the requirements of this chapter to such class or
23 craft of employees, including requirements concerning
24 maximum on-duty and minimum off-duty periods. Based
25 on such a joint petition, the Secretary may, after notice
26 and opportunity for comment, waive in whole or in part
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1 compliance with this chapter for a period of no more than
2 two years, if the Secretary determines that such waiver
3 of compliance is in the public interest and is consistent
4 with railroad safety. Any such waiver may, based on a new
5 petition, be extended for additional periods of up to two
6 years, after notice and opportunity for comment. An expla7 nation of any waiver granted under this section shall be
8 published in the Federal Register.
9

‘‘(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of Transportation

10 shall submit to Congress, no later than January 1, 1997,
11 a report that—
12

‘‘(1) explains and analyzes the effectiveness of

13

all pilot projects established pursuant to a waiver

14

granted under subsection (a);

15

‘‘(2) describes the status of all other waivers

16

granted under subsection (a) and their related pilot

17

projects, if any; and

18

‘‘(3)

recommends

appropriate

legislative

19

changes to this chapter.

20

‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

21 term ‘directly affected covered service employees’ means
22 covered service employees to whose hours of service the
23 terms of the waiver petitioned for specifically apply.’’.

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1

(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of

2 sections for chapter 211 of title 49, United States Code,
3 is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
‘‘21108. Pilot projects.’’.

4

SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING HOURS OF

5
6

SERVICE VIOLATIONS.

Section 21303(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code,

7 is amended by inserting ‘‘or violating any provision of a
8 waiver applicable to that person that has been granted
9 under section 21108 of this title,’’ after ‘‘chapter 211 of
10 this title’’.
11

SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT REGARDING FEDERAL

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13

RAILROAD SAFETY.

Section 20111(c) of title 49, United States Code, is

14 amended by inserting ‘‘this chapter or any of the laws
15 transferred to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Trans16 portation by subsection (e) (1), (2), and (6)(A) of section
17 6 of the Department of Transportation Act, as in effect
18 on June 1, 1994, or’’ after ‘‘individual’s violation of’’.
19

SEC. 6. BIENNIAL FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY REPORT-

20
21

ING.

(a) Section 20116 of title 49, United States Code,

22 is amended—
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(1) by striking in its heading ‘‘Annual’’ and
inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Biennial’’;

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(2) by striking ‘‘not later than July 1 of each

2

year a report on carrying out this chapter for the

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prior calendar year. The report shall include the fol-

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lowing information about the prior year’’ and insert-

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ing in lieu thereof ‘‘every two years, on or before

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July 1 of the year due, a comprehensive report on

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the administration of this chapter for the preceding

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two calendar years. The report shall include the fol-

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lowing information about such calendar years’’; and

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(3) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, by cal-

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endar year’’ after ‘‘casualties by cause’’.

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(b) The item relating to section 20116 in the table

13 of sections for chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code,
14 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘20116. Biennial report.’’.

15

SEC. 7. REPORT ON BRIDGE DISPLACEMENT DETECTION

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17

SYSTEMS.

Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment

18 of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit to the Committee
19 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate
20 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
21 House of Representatives a report concerning any action
22 that has been taken by the Secretary on railroad bridge
23 displacement detection systems.

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SEC. 8. TRACK SAFETY.

Section 20142 of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended—
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(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘September 3,

5

1994’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘September 1,

6

1995’’;

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(2) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘, includ-

8

ing cold weather installation procedures’’ after ‘‘at-

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tendant structure’’; and

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(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-

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section:

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‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION

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FECTS.—In

OF

INTERNAL RAIL DE-

carrying out subsections (a) and (b), the Sec-

14 retary shall consider whether or not to prescribe regula15 tions and issue orders concerning—
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‘‘(1) inspection procedures to identify internal

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rail defects, before they reach imminent failure size,

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in rail that has significant shelling; and

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‘‘(2) any specific actions that should be taken

20

when a rail surface condition, such as shelling, pre-

21

vents the identification of internal defects.’’.

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1
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SEC. 9. RESIDENCE OF EMPLOYEES.

The amendments made by section 7 of the Amtrak

3 Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 1990 shall apply
4 to all periods before and after the date of their enactment.
Passed the House of Representatives August 8,
1994.
Attest:

•HR 4545 CDS

DONNALD K. ANDERSON,
Clerk.