Qualification and Certification of Locomotive Engineers; Miscellaneous Revisions

FRA is making miscellaneous amendments to its regulation governing the qualification and certification of locomotive engineers. These changes address the unanticipated consequences arising from reclassifications, clarify the grounds upon which a railroad may revoke a locomotive engineer's certification, and make the regulation consistent with other FRA regulations and guidance. In particular, this rule: prohibits a railroad from reclassifying a person's locomotive engineer certificate to that of a more restrictive class during the period in which the certificate is otherwise valid while permitting the railroad to place restrictions on the locomotive engineer, if appropriate; clarifies that revocation of an engineer's certificate may only occur for the reasons specified in the regulation; requires each railroad to identify the actions it will take in the event that a person fails a skills performance test or the railroad finds deficiencies with an engineer's performance during an operational monitoring observation or unannounced compliance test; requires each railroad to describe the scoring system used by the railroad during performance skills tests, operational monitoring observations and unannounced compliance tests; and makes some minor clarifying revisions to the regulation.