[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR228.101]

[Page 279-280]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
       CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF 
                             TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 228--HOURS OF SERVICE OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEES--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart C--Construction of Employee Sleeping Quarters
 
Sec. 228.101  Distance requirement; definitions.

    Source: 43 FR 31012, July 19, 1978, unless otherwise noted.


    (a) The Hours of Service Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 61-64b), makes 
it unlawful for any common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign 
commerce by railroad to begin, on or after July 8, 1976, the 
construction or reconstruction of sleeping quarters for employees who 
perform duties covered by the act ``within or in the immediate vicinity 
(as determined in accordance with rules prescribed by the Secretary of 
Transportation) of any area where railroad switching or humping 
operations are performed.'' 45 U.S.C. 62(a)(4). This subpart sets forth 
(1) a general definition of ``immediate vicinity'' (Sec. 228.101(b)), 
(2) procedures under which a carrier may request a determination by the 
Federal Railroad Administration that a particular proposed site is not 
within the ``immediate vicinity'' of railroad switching or humping 
operations (Secs. 228.103 and 228.105), and (3) the basic criteria 
utilized in evaluating proposed sites (Sec. 228.107).
    (b) Except as determined in accordance with the provisions of this 
subpart. ``The immediate vicinity'' shall mean the area within one-half 
mile (2,640 feet) (804 meters) of switching or humping operations as 
measured from the nearest rail of the nearest trackage where switching 
or humping operations are performed to the point on the site where the 
carrier proposes to construct or reconstruct the exterior wall of the 
structure, or portion of such wall, which is closest to such operations.
    (c) As used in this subpart--
    (1) Construction shall refer to the--
    (i) Creation of a new facility;
    (ii) Expansion of an existing facility;
    (iii) Placement of a mobile or modular facility; or
    (iv) Acquisition and use of an existing building.
    (2) Reconstruction shall refer to the--
    (i) Replacement of an existing facility with a new facility on the 
same site; or
    (ii) Rehabilitation or improvement of an existing facility (normal 
periodic maintenance excepted) involving the expenditure of an amount 
representing more than 50 percent of the cost of replacing such facility 
on the same site at the time the work of rehabilitation or improvement 
began, the replacement cost to be estimated on the basis of contemporary 
construction methods and materials.
    (3) Switching or humping operations includes the classification of 
placarded railroad cars according to commodity or destination, 
assembling of placarded cars for train movements, changing the position 
of placarded cars for purposes of loading, unloading, or weighing, and 
the placing of placarded cars for repair. However, the term does not 
include the moving of rail equipment in connection with work service, 
the moving of a train or part of a train within yard limits by a road 
locomotive or placing locomotives or cars in a train or removing them 
from a train by a road locomotive while en route to the train's 
destination. The term does include operations within this definition 
which are conducted by any railroad; it is not limited to the operations 
of the carrier contemplating construction or reconstruction of railroad 
employee sleeping quarters.
    (4) Placarded car shall mean a railroad car required to be placarded 
by

[[Page 280]]

the Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulations (49 CFR 
172.504).
    (5) The term Leq (8) shall mean the equivalent steady 
state sound level which in 8 hours would contain the same acoustic 
energy as the time-varying sound level during the same time period.