10 hour rest?

slchub wrote:

GN 599 wrote:I am not sure what country or planet you guys railroad on but these rules for rest have been in effect since July 16 2009. Nation wide all railroads must comply. It was part of the Rail Safety Imrovement Act.The knee jerk reaction for this legislation was created by the Chatsworth CA accident included created the new hours and the federally mandated Positive Train Control installation by 2016. If you are in train, engine and yard service (i.e. conductors and engineers) when you complete a trip the minimum off is 10 hours undisturbed rest. So if you work somewhere that you get a 2hr call to show up for work you get 12 hrs off because of the 10hrs plus the 2hr call. If an employee works 7 consecutive starts in a row, say for example reporting for work 7 days in a row upon completion of the 7th start (trip or yard shift) a minimum 72hrs off is required. If an employee works 6 starts in a row 48 hrs off are required. There are things that apply to this though. 2 starts in one calender day only counts for 1 actual start. Deadheading does not count as a start. If you do not get a start on one calendar day your start count resets to zero. So for example if I tie up on Jan 1st at 2300hrs and have all day off the 2nd and report for work at the ungodly hour of 0200hrs on the 3rd I start all over at 1 start. In all reality these new rules did nothing as far as being rested is concerned. We still have crappy train line ups sometimes and still work terrible hours. I have only been laid off ''RSIA'' 3 or 4 times in the last year and a half we have been doing this. Many times I have worked 2 weeks straight and not hit 7 starts in a row because of catching deadheads or breaking the cycle by sitting on the board long enough to restart my clock.Also we are only allowed to work 276hrs a month. But I have never seen anyone hit that. A lot to take in? You bet. We are used to it now. As far as pay is concerned I dont see much of a difference. As an engineer I can book what they call smart rest. It allow you to book enough rest to get you through a calender day without a start so it starts your start count all over again. As for PTC, we will get into that later and most of us that read railroady type mags have a pretty good idea of the concept.

The planet in which Amtrak operates does not have this FRA requirement. We are still 8 hours and as many days/starts as they can get in between.

Thats surprising to me I thought it was for all of us. I guess it would cause a lot of service interuptions for passenger ops

here outline of what rules will be for intercity and commuter operations:

In 2010, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) presented a proposal to amend the code of federal
regulations pertaining to the hours of service (HOS) for train and engine employees in commuter
or intercity rail passenger transportation. These proposals seek to address the issue of fatigue
for railroad employees. The FRA has created two distinct assignments that will be used to determine
what is an acceptable level of fatigue. The new rules if approved will probably go into effect at the
end of 2011.

Type 1 assignment

Type 1 is an assignment that requires the employee to report for duty no earlier than 4:00 a.m. on
a calendar day and be released from duty no later than 8:00 p.m. on the same calendar
day. The FRA considers a Type 1 assignment to present an acceptable level of risk.

Type 2 assignment

Type 2 is an assignment that requires the employee to be on duty for any period of time between
8:01 p.m. on a calendar day and 3:59 a.m. on the next calendar day. A Type 2 assignment
that does not require the employee to be on duty for any period of time between midnight and
4:00 am may be considered a Type 1 assignment.
Current regulations require employees to have at least 8 hours off duty during the prior 24 hours or
at least 10 hours off duty if the employee has been on duty for 12 consecutive hours. The new proposal
contains two additional regulations that are summarized below.
If an employee has worked for 6 consecutive calendar days that includes one or
more Type 2 assignments, that employee will need at least 24 hours off before going
back on duty.
If an employee has initiated on duty periods that include only Type 1 assignments in a
period of 14 consecutive calendar days, and has not had at least 2 days off (i.e.
worked 14 days in a row), the employee will be required to have at least 2 consecutive
calendar days off duty before going back on duty. A new 14-day period begins
each time the employee has accumulated a total of two calendar days in which the
employee has not initiated an on-duty period.

The Carrier will be required to analyze all work schedules to identify those assignments that place
employees at fatigue risk and then develop a mitigation plan in order to comply with the new regulations.
The proposed law also requires Carrier to consult with union on the review of work
schedules found to be at risk of fatigue, the selection of appropriate fatigue mitigation tools, and any
required submissions by the railroad to the Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety. In addition,
all employees covered by the new regulations must be trained on the requirements of the law and
will be subject to refresher training every three years.

We understand that these proposals to change the Hours of Service Law may seem confusing. How
the changes will affect our work schedules remains to be seen. However, we will be in consultation
with carrier on their implementation if and when these proposals become law. It is important to
remember that even if the assignment does fall within the Type 2 criteria, Metro-North can and will
attempt to seek relief of the Type 2 designation by mitigation and FRA approval. The railroads will be
using computer models on fatigue/rest to mitigate the impact on service. We will update everyone
once the rules are finally approved, when they become effective and how they will be applied.

It's kinda funny that Amtrak doesn't have to follow the 10hr rest rule. They're the ones who operate metro link, and the cause of the whole problem in the first place.

they will, once the passenger rail HOS rules take effect this year.
don't forget the 10 hours rest is only if employee exceeds 12 hours of work(outlaws)
and a valid 4 hour cutout does not count as work hours.

scooterz66 wrote:It's kinda funny that Amtrak doesn't have to follow the 10hr rest rule. They're the ones who operate metro link, and the cause of the whole problem in the first place.

Amtrak has a waiver for the RSIA ruling. As it stands now there is no obligation by the carrier to provide the new 10 hour rest rule on October 16, 2011. I don't know about other passenger carriers.

What problem you referring to in regards to Metrolink and Amtrak?

I'm sorry, typo there. I meant Amtrak operated and again us operating Metrolink. I'm refering to the crash in chatsworth, ca. Sept. of 2008. Metrolink slammed into a UP freight train. That is what sparked the FRA to issue Emergency Order 26 and the government to pass the railway safety bill implementing the 10 hrs undisturbed rest. (at least on the class 1 freight railroads) doesn't matter how many hours on duty. When you get marked off, you're off for 10 hrs undisturbed.

The HOS law for Freight does NOT apply to Intercity and Commuter employees.
The previous posted rules in this thread take effect in october I believe.

Here is some "light" reading for you in regards to the HOS law initiated by the FRA (as proposed for passenger train employees).

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDe ... -0043-0001

Its interesting to find out that the passenger guys are less restricted then us freight haulers.

jgallaway81 wrote:Its interesting to find out that the passenger guys are less restricted then us freight haulers.

This. We haul dangerous cargo, but they haul prechous cargo.

I really appreciated the 10hr. rule. Especially in pool service.

Les