P.L. 110-432 (Sec. 417)

Public Law 110–432

110th Congress

An Act

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 Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

49 USC 20103

note.

Certification.

Deadline.

Regulations.

SEC. 417. RAILROAD BRIDGE SAFETY ASSURANCE.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after the date

of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate a regulation

requiring owners of track carried on one or more railroad bridges

to adopt a bridge safety management program to prevent the

deterioration of railroad bridges and reduce the risk of human

casualties, environmental damage, and disruption to the Nation’s

railroad transportation system that would result from a catastrophic

bridge failure.

(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations shall, at a minimum,

require each track owner to—

(1) to develop and maintain an accurate inventory of its

railroad bridges, which shall identify the location of each bridge,

its configuration, type of construction, number of spans, span

lengths, and all other information necessary to provide for

the safe management of the bridges;

(2) to ensure that a professional engineer competent in

the field of railroad bridge engineering, or a qualified person

under the supervision of the track owner, determines bridge

capacity;

(3) to 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;

(4) to develop, maintain, and enforce a written procedure

that will ensure that its bridges are not loaded beyond their

capacities;

(5) to conduct regular comprehensive inspections of each

bridge, at least once every year, and maintain records of those

inspections that include the date on which the inspection was

performed, the precise identification of the bridge inspected,

the items inspected, an accurate description of the condition

of those items, and a narrative of any inspection item that

is found by the inspector to be a potential problem;

(6) to 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, including car

weights, train frequency and length, levels of passenger and

hazardous materials traffic, and vulnerability of the bridge

to damage;

(7) to ensure that an engineer who is competent in the

field of railroad bridge engineering—

(A) is responsible for the development of all inspection

procedures;

(B) reviews all inspection reports; and

(C) determines whether bridges are being inspected

according to the applicable procedures and frequency, and

reviews any items noted by an inspector as exceptions;

and

(8) to designate qualified bridge inspectors or maintenance

personnel to authorize the operation of trains on bridges following

repairs, damage, or indications of potential structural

problems.

(c) USE OF BRIDGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS REQUIRED.—The

Secretary shall instruct bridge experts to obtain copies of the most

recent bridge management programs of each railroad within the

expert’s areas of responsibility, and require that experts use those

programs when conducting bridge observations.

(d) REVIEW OF DATA.—The Secretary shall establish a program

to periodically review bridge inspection and maintenance data from

railroad carrier bridge inspectors and Federal Railroad Administration

bridge experts.

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