The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require commuter and intercity passenger railroads to develop and implement system safety programs (SSP) to further improve the safety of their operations.
SSPs would be designed to help the railroad proactively identify and mitigate or eliminate hazards and the resulting risks on each railroad’s system. Railroads would have considerable flexibility in tailoring an SSP to specific operations. The FRA would review and approve a railroad’s proposed SSP and audit compliance.
Interested parties are invited to submit comments on the proposed rule by Nov. 6, 2012.