The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Oct. 12 announced that it is requiring the installation of inward- and outward-facing locomotive image recording devices on all lead locomotives in passenger trains, as required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
According to FRA, the final rule, which is effective Nov. 13, 2023, “requires that these devices record while a lead locomotive is in motion and retain the data in a crashworthy memory module; treats locomotive-mounted recording devices on passenger locomotives as ‘safety devices’ under existing Federal railroad safety regulations to prohibit tampering with or disabling them; governs the use of passenger locomotive recordings to conduct operational tests to determine passenger railroad operating employees’ compliance with applicable railroad rules and Federal regulations; and requires Texas Central Railroad (TCRR) to install and maintain trainset image recording systems appropriate to TCRR’s operation.”
FRA is publishing this final rule as mandated by section 11411 of the FAST Act, codified at 49 U.S.C. 20168 (the Statute), and under the agency’s general railroad safety rulemaking authority at 49 U.S.C. 20103. The Statute requires FRA (as the Secretary of Transportation’s delegate) to “promulgate regulations requiring each railroad carrier that provides regularly scheduled intercity rail passenger or commuter rail passenger transportation to the public to install inward- and outward-facing image recording devices in all controlling locomotives of passenger trains.”
This final rule, FRA says, implements the Statute’s requirements regarding such recording devices on “controlling” locomotives, which will normally be “lead” locomotives consistent with FRA’s existing regulations on locomotive event recorders.
Before the Statute was enacted, the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) accepted a task from FRA in 2014 to address National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations R–10–01 & –02 concerning locomotive-mounted recording devices (RSAC Task No. 14–01). The RSAC established the Recording Devices Working Group (Working Group) to recommend specific actions regarding the installation and use of locomotive-mounted recording devices, such as inward- and outward-facing video and audio recorders.
The RSAC did not vote, or reach consensus, on any recommendations to FRA regarding the adoption of regulatory text addressing locomotive-mounted video or audio recording devices.
Considering the Statute’s mandate, relevant NTSB recommendations, the RSAC Working Group’s discussions, accident history, and railroad safety violations that FRA had investigated, FRA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on July 24, 2019, proposing inward- and outward-facing image recording devices be required on all lead passenger train locomotives. FRA received comments from fifteen different individuals or organizations in response to the NPRM.
Having carefully considered the public comments in response to the NPRM, FRA has issued this final rule amending the regulatory requirements of Railroad Operating Rules (49 CFR part 217), Railroad Operating Practices (49 CFR part 218), Railroad Locomotive Safety Standards (49 CFR part 229), and Texas Central High-Speed Rail Safety Standards (49 CFR part 299).
This final rule, FRA says, “requires intercity passenger and commuter railroads to install compliant image recording systems on the lead locomotives of all their passenger trains by Oct.12, 2027, except for TCRR, which is required to have compliant image recording systems installed on its trainsets prior to commencing revenue service, as specified under part 299. Further, beginning Oct. 12, 2024, any locomotive image recording system installed on new, remanufactured, or existing passenger train lead locomotives must meet the specified requirements of this final rule, including the requirement that the last twelve hours of data recorded be stored in a memory module that meets the existing crashworthiness requirements in part 229,” according to FRA.
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