System Safety Program

In this final rule under 49 CFR Part 270, FRA is amending its regulations requiring commuter and intercity passenger rail (IPR) operations to develop and implement a system safety program (SSP) to improve the safety of their operations. The rule clarifies that each passenger rail operation has responsibility for ensuring compliance with the SSP final rule. Each railroad will use its SSP/SSP Plan to proactively identify and mitigate or eliminate hazards at an early stage and the resulting risk on its system to reduce the number of railroad accidents, incidents, and associated injuries, fatalities, and property damage. A railroad has the flexibility to tailor an SSP to its specific operations. An SSP will be implemented by an SSP Plan submitted to FRA for approval. Under this information collection, FRA will audit a railroad's compliance with its SSP. This information collection is mandatory, submitted as needed, and there is a requirement for reporting and recordkeeping.

The latest form for System Safety Program expires 2023-06-30 and can be found here.