DOT 99-08
Friday, July 18, 2008

News Digest

United States, Switzerland Reach Accord on Enhancing Open-Skies Agreement. The United States and Switzerland today agreed to measures that will enhance the existing Open-Skies agreement between the two countries. The new accord will allow U.S. all-cargo carriers to fly between Switzerland and third countries without directly connecting to the United States, and provide Swiss cargo carriers the same rights in the United States. In addition, the agreement makes it easier for U.S. and Swiss airlines to introduce new pricing initiatives, expands cooperative marketing opportunities to include intermodal codesharing, and modernizes the bilateral agreement’s security provision. The agreement also allows Swiss airlines to receive investments from nationals of the European Union without jeopardizing the carriers’ rights to serve the United States. The U.S.-Switzerland Open-Skies agreement, concluded in June 1995, allows the airlines of both countries to select routes and destinations based on consumer demand without limitations on the number of U.S. or Swiss carriers that can fly between the two countries or the number of flights they can operate. Contact Bill Mosley: (202) 366-4570.

FRA Issues Proposed Rule to Improve Protection for Railroad Roadway Workers. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to improve protection for roadway workers from train or equipment movements on an adjacent track. The proposal would require railroads, contractors to railroads, and roadway workers to adopt and comply with additional on-track safety procedures. It will cover work groups using certain maintenance equipment, when at least one worker is on the ground and the centerline of the adjacent track is 19 feet or less from the centerline of the track being worked on. FRA is also proposing to expand requirements for job safety briefings, training, and recordkeeping to ensure compliance with the new procedures. Under existing Roadway Worker Protection rules, work groups engaged in large-scale maintenance or construction must be provided with adjacent-track on-track safety by way of a train approach warning. The proposed regulation would expand upon this requirement to cover a wider range of operational conditions. Since May of 2004, there have been four rail employee fatalities on a track that was adjacent to a track where a group of roadway workers had been operating on-track maintenance equipment, representing a four fold increase. A copy of the proposal can be viewed at http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/321 under the subheading Roadway Worker Protection. Comments on the proposed rule can be submitted until August 18. Contact: Warren Flatau (202) 493-6019.