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Brothers
and Sisters,
The
Senate has just passed the Rail Safety and Amtrak Bill,
74 for and 24 opposed. The bill, an amended rail safety
measure, would authorize significant new funding for Amtrak
at $5.3 billion in capital grants, $2.9 billion in operating
grants and $1.9 billion for intercity passenger rail over
five years.
The
legislation limits railroad operating crews to a maximum
276 hours per month, including limbo time. It limits limbo
time to 40 hours a month the first year after enactment
and 30 hours a month thereafter.
Some
other rail safety provisions include:
- Targeted fatigue
countermeasures: a railroad's plan shall take into account
the varying circumstances of operations by the railroad
on different parts of its system, and shall prescribe
appropriate fatigue countermeasures to address those varying
circumstances. The plan should also address the following:
- Employee education.
- Opportunities
for identification, diagnosis, and treatment of any
medical condition that may affect alertness or fatigue,
including sleep disorders.
- Scheduling
practices for employees, including innovative scheduling
practices, on duty call practices, work and rest cycles,
increased consecutive days off for employees, changes
in shift patterns, appropriate scheduling practices
for varying types of work, and other aspects of employee
scheduling that would reduce employee fatigue and
cumulative sleep loss.
- Methods to
minimize accidents and incidents that occur as a result
of working at times when scientific and medical research
have shown increased fatigue disrupts employees' circadian
rhythm.
- Alertness
strategies.
- Opportunities
to obtain restful sleep at lodging facilities, including
employee sleeping quarters provided by the railroad
carrier.
- The increase
of the number of consecutive hours of off-duty rest,
during which an employee receives no communication
from the employing railroad carrier or its managers,
supervisors, officers, or agents.
- Avoidance
of abrupt changes in rest cycles for employees.
- Additional
elements that the Secretary considers appropriate.
- 10 hour call pilot
project and scheduled call pilot project.
- Labor and management
can negotiate alternative hours of service plans.
- Existing hours
of service law shall apply to commuter, short haul passenger
carriers, or intercity carriers until regulations are
issued by the Secretary within three years after the law
is enacted.
- Implementation
of positive train control by 2015.
- Mandating prompt
medical attention for injured railroad employees.
- Provides for a
study of the locomotive cab environment.
- Mandating critical
incident stress debriefing.
- Mandating a study
of railroad employee exposure to nuclear radiation.
- Requiring require
railroads to provide emergency escape breathing apparatus
with respiratory protection for all crewmembers in locomotive
cabs.
It
now goes to the White House for the President's approval,
the Bush administration threatened to veto an Amtrak bill
that the House passed in June, but has been silent on the
measure now before the Senate. House Transportation and
Infrastructure Chairman Oberstar , D-Minn., said he
is optimistic President Bush will sign it.
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