Railroad Workplace Safety; Adjacent-Track On-Track Safety for Roadway Workers

This document delays the effective date of the final rule published November 30, 2011, and scheduled to take effect on May 1, 2012. The final rule mandates that roadway workers comply with specified on-track safety procedures that railroads must adopt to protect those workers from the movement of trains or other on-track equipment on "adjacent controlled track," and requests comments on the petitions for reconsideration of the final rule that FRA has received. In response to the final rule, FRA received two petitions for reconsideration that raise a number of substantive issues requiring a detailed response. Accordingly, in order to respond fully to the petitions for reconsideration and for the reasons set forth below, this document delays the effective date of the final rule until July 1, 2013. FRA is establishing a 60-day comment period in order to permit interested parties an opportunity to respond to the submitted petitions for reconsideration.