Retention of Current Monetary Threshold for Reporting Rail Equipment Accident/Incidents During Calendar Year 2003 and Until Further Amended

This Interim Final Rule establishes at $6,700 the monetary threshold for reporting certain railroad accidents/incidents involving railroad property damage that occur during calendar year 2003 and, until further notice, during subsequent calendar years. The 2003 threshold remains the same as the threshold for calendar year 2002 due to the unavailability of Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data that were previously used to calculate the threshold. FRA is not calculating a new threshold; rather, the old one is being retained as it is not possible to calculate a new threshold with the current formula due to the lack of BLS data. FRA will be providing notice and seeking comment at a future date to establish a new formula for calculating the monetary threshold for reporting rail equipment accidents/incidents. This action is needed to ensure and maintain comparability between different years of accident data by having the threshold keep pace with any increases or decreases in equipment and labor costs so that each year accidents involving the same minimum amount of railroad property damage are included in the reportable accident counts.