[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 49, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 49CFR240.129]



[Page 746]

 

                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION

 

       CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF 

                             TRANSPORTATION

 

PART 240_QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS--Table 

of Contents

 

        Subpart B_Component Elements of the Certification Process

 

Sec. 240.129  Criteria for monitoring operational performance of 

certified engineers.



    (a) Each railroad's program shall include criteria and procedures 

for implementing this section.

    (b) A railroad shall have procedures for monitoring the operational 

performance of those it has determined as qualified as a locomotive 

engineer in either train or locomotive service.

    (c) The procedures shall:

    (1) Be designed to determine that the person possesses and routinely 

employs the skills to safely operate locomotives and/or trains, 

including the proper application of the railroad's rules and practices 

for the safe operation of locomotives and trains;

    (2) Be designed so that each engineer shall be annually monitored by 

a Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers, who does not need to be 

qualified on the physical characteristics of the territory over which 

the operational performance monitoring will be conducted;

    (3) Be designed so that the locomotive engineer is either 

accompanied by the designated supervisor for a reasonable length of time 

or has his or her train handling activities electronically recorded by a 

train operations event recorder;

    (d) The procedures may be designed so that the locomotive engineer 

being monitored either (i) is at the controls of the type of train 

normally operated on that railroad or segment of railroad and which this 

person might be permitted or required by the railroad to operate in the 

normal course of events after certification or (ii) is at the controls 

of a Type I or Type II simulator programmed to replicate the responsive 

behavior of the type of train normally operated on that railroad or 

segment of railroad and which this person might be permitted or required 

by the railroad to operate in the normal course of events after 

certification.

    (e) The testing and examination procedures selected by the railroad 

for the conduct of a monitoring program shall be:

    (1) Designed so that each locomotive engineer shall be given at 

least one unannounced test each calendar year.

    (2) Designed to test engineer compliance with provisions of the 

railroad's operating rules that require response to signals that display 

less than a ``clear'' aspect, if the railroad operates with a signal 

system that must comply with part 236 of this chapter;

    (3) Designed to test engineer compliance with provisions of the 

railroad's operating rules, timetable or other mandatory directives that 

require affirmative response by the locomotive engineer to less 

favorable conditions than that which existed prior to initiation of the 

test;

    (4) Designed to test engineer compliance with provisions of the 

railroad's operating rules, timetable or other mandatory directives 

violation of which by engineers were cited by the railroad as the cause 

of train accidents or train incidents in accident reports filed in 

compliance with part 225 of this chapter in the preceding calendar year;

    (5) Designed so that the administration of these tests is 

effectively distributed throughout whatever portion of a 24-hour day 

that the railroad conducts its operations; and

    (6) Designed so that individual tests are administered without prior 

notice to the engineer being tested.



[56 FR 28254, June 19, 1991, as amended at 64 FR 60992, Nov. 8, 1999]