Federal Railroad Safety Accountability and Improvement Act

Summary

Federal Railroad Safety Accountability and Improvement Act - Authorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2011 for the railroad safety program, including a safety risk reduction program to be implemented as part of such program. Eliminates the authority of the Secretary of Transportation (or state Secretary) to prescribe investigative and surveillance activities to enforce rail safety regulations and orders. Prohibits public disclosure of railroad safety risk reduction program records. Requires railroad carriers and states to report to the Secretary, and update periodically, unreported highway-rail (including non-vehicular pathway-rail) grade crossings and public highway-rail (including non-vehicular public pathway) grade crossings within the United States. Urges the development of new technology to prevent loss of life and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings. Sets forth requirements: (1) prohibiting the judicial review of railroad safety regulations or orders on the ground that they impact security; (2) authorizing the Secretary to waive compliance of such regulations and orders if there is an emergency event, it is in the public interest, and consistent with railroad safety; (3) authorizing the Secretary to monitor railroad radio communications to prevent rail accidents, or as part of an accident investigation; (4) authorizing the Secretary to prohibit individuals who have violated hazardous material transportation safety laws from performing safety-sensitive functions in the railroad industry until specified conditions are met; (5) repealing and reserving codified federal hours of service laws, requiring the conversion of such laws to regulations, and authorizing the Secretary to amend such regulations to prevent and mitigate fatigue in individuals performing safety-critical train related duties; (6) establishing maximum number of hours a train employee may be on duty; and (7) authorizing the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration and designated employees access to criminal history records of railroad employees.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 14 March 2007

   Introduced

   Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 14 March 2007

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

3. 14 March 2007

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

4. 15 March 2007

   Referred

   Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

   Source: Committee

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Introduced in House · 14 March 2007 · Official file

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in House (text)

  Introduced in House · EN · 14 March 2007

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House (PDF)

  Introduced in House · EN · 14 March 2007

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 14 March 2007

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Rep. Oberstar, James L. [D-MN-8] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Mica, John L. [R-FL-7] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Brown, Corrine [D-FL-5] · D · Sponsor
• Bill Shuster · R · Sponsor
• · hspw00 · Standing

Related records

• related to ← Federal Railroad Safety Accountability and Improvement Act