Title 49

SECTION 238.447

238.447 Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

§ 238.447 Train operator's controls and power car cab layout.

(a) Train operator controls in the power car cab shall be arranged so as to minimize the chance of human error, and be comfortably within view and within easy reach when the operator is seated in the normal train control position.

(b) The train operator's control panel buttons, switches, levers, knobs, and the like shall be distinguishable by sight and by touch.

(c) An alerter shall be provided in the power car cab. If not acknowledged, the alerter shall cause a brake application to stop the train.

(d) Power car cab information displays shall be designed with the following characteristics:

(1) Simplicity and standardization shall be the driving criteria for design of formats for the display of information in the cab;

(2) Essential, safety-critical information shall be displayed as a default condition;

(3) Operator selection shall be required to display other than default information;

(4) Cab or train control signals shall be displayed for the operator; and

(5) Displays shall be readable from the operators's normal position under all lighting conditions.

(e) The power car cab shall be designed so at to permit the crew to have an effective field of view in the forward direction, as well as to the right and left of the direction of travel to observe objects approaching the train from either side. Field-of-view obstructions due to required structural members shall be minimized.

(f) Each seat provided for an employee regularly assigned to occupy a power car cab and any floor-mounted seat in the cab shall be:

(1) Secured to the car body with an attachment having an ultimate strength capable of withstanding the loads due to the following individually applied accelerations acting on the combined mass of the seat and the mass of a seat occupant who is a 95th-percentile adult male:

(i) Longitudinal: 12g;

(ii) Lateral: 4g; and

(iii) Vertical: 4g;

(2) Designed so that all adjustments have the range necessary to accommodate a person ranging from a 5th-percentile adult female to a 95th-percentile adult male, as persons possessing such characteristics are specified, correcting for clothing as appropriate, in any recognized survey after 1958 of weight, height, and other body dimensions of U.S. adults;

(3) Equipped with lumbar support that is adjustable from the seated position;

(4) Equipped with force-assisted, vertical-height adjustment, operated from the seated position;

(5) Equipped with a manually reclining seat back, adjustable from the seated position;

(6) Equipped with an adjustable headrest; and

(7) Equipped with folding, padded armrests.

(g) Sharp edges and corners shall be eliminated from the interior of the power car cab, and interior surfaces of the cab likely to be impacted by an employee during a collision or derailment shall be padded with shock-absorbent material.

---