News | March 25, 2024

FTA Issues New Regulations

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on March 25, 2024, that proposes new regulations governing rail transit roadway worker protection (RWP). The regulations would require rail transit agencies that are part of the state safety oversight program under 49 C.F.R. Part 674 to plan for and implement an RWP program that complies with minimum standards and program elements. The program would reach transit workers whose duties involve inspection, construction, maintenance, repairs, or safety on or near the roadway or right-of-way with the potential of fouling a track (defined under the proposed regulations as placing the worker’s self or equipment in a position that a moving vehicle or on-track equipment could strike either). If adopted, the regulations will replace the currently voluntary standards and will be codified in a new Part 671 in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The NPRM explains that FTA, after a review of safety events, concluded that current safety programs are too weak to protect against roadway worker fatalities and injuries. The regulations build off that review, recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), submission in response to a request for information published in September 2021, and voluntary RWP standards developed in a collaboration between FTA and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Those processes identified particular safety problems that the regulations seek to address. 

As drafted, the regulations would require rail transit agencies to adopt and implement an RWP program. The program would include certain minimum program elements, including:

  • The designation of a roadway worker in charge for each roadway work group;
  • Job safety briefings, to be delivered by the roadway worker in charge before a roadway worker group fouls a track and to include certain minimum elements;
  • A prohibition on lone workers fouling the track outside of certain limited circumstances;
  • The use of redundant protections; and
  • A RWP training program, subject to certain content and timing requirements.

These policies would be adopted into agency safety plans. Agencies would also need to develop certain procedures that would dictate methods for:

  • Accessing the track zone;
  • Providing ample time (defined as the time necessary to clear a track zone or reach a place of safety 15 seconds before a rail transit vehicle moving at the maximum authorized speed on the track could reach the worker’s location);
  • Determining appropriate sight distance the length of track visible to a roadway worker);
  • Providing job safety briefings whenever a rule violation is observed;
  • Providing transit workers the right to challenge and refuse an assignment based on safety concerns (a “good faith safety challenge”);
  • Reporting unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, and near-misses on the roadway;
  • Training workers to understand and comply with the RWP program.

Each agency would document its program in an RWP manual, which would describe the program elements and the required procedures, include a track access guide, and document the training, qualification, and supervision required for workers to access the track zone. Agencies would be required to update the manual at least every two years. State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOAs) would be required to review and approve each agency’s RWP manual and program elements, to update their Program Standards in light of the RWP program, and to audit agencies annually for compliance with their RWP programs and to analyze their effectiveness.

The regulations also stress redundant protection. Agencies would be prohibited from using individual rail transit vehicle detection — in which a lone worker visually detects approaching vehicles or equipment — as the only form of protection. Each agency would instead be required to use its existing Safety Management System to establish physical or procedural redundant protections consistent with its Agency Safety Plans and each agency’s SSOA’s Program Standard. An agency would need to provide redundant protections specific to the category of work a given roadway worker was performing. SSOAs would also be authorized to require that agencies implement alternate redundant protections.

FTA projects that the regulations would result in $14.2 million in annual benefits due to a reduction of 1.4 fatalities and 3.9 injuries per year. That is balanced against $2.0 million in projected start-up costs and $11.3 million in projected ongoing annual costs, due primarily to redundant worker protections and training. FTA selected its regulations from a pool of three options because it prevented more roadway worker injuries and fatalities while maintaining net positive benefits.

The regulations are authorized by 49 U.S.C. § 5329(b), which directs FTA to create and implement a national public transportation safety plan containing minimum safety standards. Agencies and SSOAs would be permitted to implement additional or more stringent standards.

Interested parties are invited to comment on the regulations. Comments can be submitted to docket number FTA-2023-0024 on regulations.gov, and are due May 24, 2024. The NPRM is published at 89 Fed. Reg. 20605 (Mar. 25, 2024).

If you have questions about the RWP regulations, please contact Ayelet Hirschkorn, Suzanne Silverman, Charles Spitulnik, Christian Alexander, or Grant Glovin.