newpylong wrote:Doesn't the derailment one only applies to MOW employers, who are under hours of service because of the equipment they use. But, in the event of a derailment the 12 hour rule can be extended. But I could be wrong...I am not an MOW employee, so i cannot say for sure. But from what i have heard, Whether it's MOW employee or Mechanical Dept employees (Car dept, etc) the only time there is an "hours of service" issue is when those employees will be operating vehicles and/or heavy equipment. The would fall under federal guidelines for whatever they were operating. I know with the Car dept for example they have CDL's and drive commercial vehicles so they have to fall under the DOT laws. For MOW guys, i don't know if it's FRA or DOT.
In any event, the only way HOS affects them is if they operate those pieces of equipment. But laborers who simply do hand work have no HOS rules. I have seen and heard of derailment cleanups with laborers on duty for well over 24 hours.
As for train crews, cleaning up a derailment is NOT an emergency. So you would not see that. The only "emergency" would be at the time the derailment occours, before help arrives. Case in point, your outlawed on a siding waiting on a cab and another train derails and loses contact with the dispatcher in the area and it's remote. They could ask you to headpin and go investigate and possibly assist with resuce, Hazmat location, etc. That is an example of an emergency where exceeding 12 hours would be something that would be allowed.