[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 562 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 562

  To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish national 
  safety standards for transit agencies operating heavy rail on fixed 
                               guideway.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 10, 2011

Ms. Mikulski (for herself, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Warner, and Mr. 
Webb) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 
       to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish national 
  safety standards for transit agencies operating heavy rail on fixed 
                               guideway.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Metro Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Every weekday more than 7,000,000 people board rail 
        transit vehicles in the United States.
            (2) Despite the National Transportation Safety Board's 
        recommendations to the Federal Transit Administration to 
        establish and enforce Federal safety standards for transit 
        agencies operating heavy rail on fixed guideway, the Federal 
        Transit Administration has not taken action because of a 
        perceived absence of authority to establish such standards.
            (3) The Federal Transit Administration has not established 
        minimum Federal standards that govern the structural 
        crashworthiness of heavy rail passenger cars on fixed guideway.
            (4) The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that 
        the failure to have minimum crashworthiness standards places an 
        unnecessary risk on passengers and crew.
            (5) The Federal Transit Administration does not have any 
        requirements that rail transit cars be equipped with means for 
        safe and rapid emergency responder entry and passenger 
        evacuation.
            (6) Although the installation of data recorders on rail 
        transit cars would help investigators determine the factors 
        contributing to crashes, the Federal Transit Administration 
        does not require such installation.
            (7) Although the National Transit Safety Board has 
        expressed concern that the hours of service practices of 
        transit agencies do not provide transit vehicle operators with 
        the opportunity to obtain adequate sleep to be fully alert and 
        to operate safely, the Federal Transit Administration does not 
        have hours of service regulations to govern the practices of 
        transit agencies.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL RAIL TRANSIT SAFETY STANDARDS.

    (a) Establishment.--Notwithstanding section 5334(b)(1) of title 49, 
United States Code, the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation 
with the National Transportation Safety Board shall, by regulation, 
develop, implement, and enforce national safety standards for transit 
agencies operating heavy rail on fixed guideway.
    (b) Inclusion of NTSB Recommendations.--The standards established 
under subsection (a) shall include the standards recommended to the 
Federal Transit Administration by the National Transportation Safety 
Board related to crashworthiness, emergency access and egress, event 
recorders, and hours of service.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit a 
report to Congress that describes the progress made in establishing the 
standards described in subsection (a).
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