The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Oct. 18 finalized requirements that will bolster the role of its State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOAs), which oversee rail transit safety in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
“Safety is our department’s top priority, and today we take another important step to protect rail workers and riders,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday. “This rule will give states greater authority and clarity to improve safety on the rail transit systems they oversee, including by conducting inspections without prior notice.”
The final rule, published Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) FTA, implements Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requirements to reduce safety risks throughout the industry by allowing SSOAs to conduct inspections of rail transit agencies without warning.
Additionally, it requires SSOAs to include inspection programs in their program standards and collect metrics and data that better explain rail transit safety, according to the final rule published in the Federal Register.
“Today, we are making rail transit even safer for both transit workers and riders,” said FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool on Friday. “Providing oversight agencies with the necessary tools to do their jobs effectively is crucial. This rule reinforces FTA’s ongoing comprehensive efforts to improve transit safety.”
In 2016, FTA published the State Safety Oversight Final Rule, which required states with rail transit systems to establish an FTA-certified State Safety Oversight program within three years. Following that rule, all 31 SSOAs were certified by April 2019, according to DOT.
The newly published updates allow SSOAs to enter rail transit facilities without prior notice to perform safety inspections and require them to collect data to identify and evaluate safety risks and prioritize inspections; and to develop and implement a risk-based inspection program for the rail transit agencies they oversee.
The final rule also removes outdated references and clarifies existing requirements by simplifying requirements for the types of safety events that rail transit agencies must report to their SSOA and FTA within two hours of occurrence, and updating terminology to reflect current use, such as using “safety event” to replace “accident” or “incident.”
The final rule also clarifies the requirement for SSOAs to oversee rail transit agencies’ internal safety reviews, including the SSOA’s authority to oversee the safety of rail transit projects in the engineering and construction phase of development, not just those in revenue service, among others.