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7344890
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Signing of H.R. 11804 - Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act of 1976 [Bill]
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Source metadata
id
7344890
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Signing of H.R. 11804 - Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act of 1976 [Bill]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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U.S. House of Representatives. (03/04/1789 - )
Legislation
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7344890
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day
9
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1976-07-09
month
7
year
1976
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nara-archive
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1
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a1103fd7b3779967
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Digitized from Box 28 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
JULY 9, 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
NOTICE TO THE PRESS
The President has signed H. R. 11804 Federal Railroad Safety
Authorization Act of 1976. This bill authorizes appropriations of
$35 million for each of fiscal years 1977 and 1978 to carry out rail
safety programs; to establish safety standards for railroad employees;
to place time limits on Department of Transportation proceedings; to
require the Federal Railroad Administration to have at least 8 regional
offices; to authorize an evaluation of railroad safety laws; and to increase
penalties for violation of rail safety provisions.
H. R. 11804 authorizesappropriations of $35 million for each of fiscal
years 1977 and 1978 for the Department of Transportation to carry out
the provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970.
H. R. 11804 will also continue the section in the current Act which places
ceilings on the expenditure of funds for the major portions of Federal
Railroad Administration (FRA) activities under the Rail Safety Act
and would set an excessively high ceiling for the number of rail safety in-
spectors. In addition, the bill will continue to limit the amount that could
be spent on rail safety research and development to no more than the
amount spent on inspection and enforcement of the rail safety rules and
regulations.
Section 4 of the bill will (a) establish maximum hours of service for crews
of wreck or relief trains in emergency situations, (b) set standards for
sleeping quarters for railroad employees, and (c) bring signalmen and
hostlers (persons who move locomotives in yard and repair areas) within
current limitations concerning employees' hours of duty.
Section 5 (a) of H. R. 11804 will require the Secretary of DOT to establish,
within 180 days of enactment, procedures placing time limits upon all
proceedings under this Act, with a maximum time limit of one year. Section
5 (b) will require the Secretary to issue regulations within 180 days of enact-
ment regarding the visibility of rear cars of trains and preventing movement
of trains onto tracks being repaired. Section 7 will authorize the congressional
Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to conduct an evaluation of the effective-
ness of rail safety laws to be completed within 18 months of enactment. Finally,
the bill will raise the range of penalties for violations of rail safety provisions
from 0-$250 to $250-$2500.
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