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FRA 10-04
Contact: Steve Kulm or Warren Flatau
Tel.: (202) 493-6024
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Warren Flatau
FRA Proposes to Improve Crash Survivability of Locomotive “Black Box”
Event recorders, the train equivalent of an airplane’s “black box”, will be
improved to make sure critical information survives train accidents according to
a proposed rule issued today by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
“The survival of data is key to understanding why a train accident happened,”
said FRA Acting Administrator Betty Monro. “Having a better ‘black box’ will
improve our ability prevent future accidents.”
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published in today’s Federal Register,
addresses several safety recommendations made by the National Transportation
Safety Board to improve the quality of data available for post-accident
analysis. The regulations proposed today are intended to prevent the loss of
data resulting from train accidents involving fire, water, and significant
mechanical damage.
The proposed rule would establish standards to make sure event recorders survive
accidents in new and existing locomotives. It would also phase out the use of
magnetic tape as a data storage medium within current “black boxes.” FRA also is
proposing that improved event recorders collect and store additional data,
including emergency braking systems, locomotive horns and text messages sent to
the engineer's display regarding directives and authorized speed. The proposed
rule would also simplify existing standards for inspecting, testing, and
maintaining event recorders by railroads.
The proposed regulations are based upon recommendations of the Railroad Safety
Advisory Committee, a consensus-based rulemaking body comprised of
representatives of railroads, industry labor organizations, manufacturers,
suppliers and others.
Comments on the NPRM, entitled “Locomotive Event Recorders,” may be submitted
through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s online docket management system
website at http://dms.dot.gov. The docket
number for the proceeding is FRA-2003-16357. Comments must be received by August
31, 2004.
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