Title 49

SECTION 240.127

240.127 Criteria for examining skill performance.

§ 240.127 Criteria for examining skill performance.

(a) Each railroad shall adopt and comply with a program which complies with the requirements of this section. When any person, including, but not limited to, each railroad, railroad officer, supervisor, and employee, violates any requirement of a program that complies with the requirements of this section, that person shall be considered to have violated the requirements of this section.

(b) A railroad shall have procedures for examining the performance skills of a person being evaluated for qualification as a locomotive engineer in either train or locomotive service to determine whether the person has the skills to safely operate locomotives and/or trains, including the proper application of the railroad's rules and practices for the safe operation of locomotives or trains, in the most demanding class or type of service that the person will be permitted to perform.

(c) The testing procedures selected by the railroad shall be:

(1) Designed to examine a person's skills in safely operating locomotives or trains including the proper application of the railroad's rules and practices for the safe operation of locomotives or trains when performing the most demanding class or type of service that the person will be permitted to perform;

(2) Conducted by a Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers, who does not need to be qualified on the physical characteristics of the territory over which the test will be conducted;

(3) Cover the following subjects during the test period

(i) Operating practices;

(ii) Equipment inspection practices;

(iii) Train handling practices; and

(iv) Compliance with Federal safety rules;

(4) Be of sufficient length to effectively evaluate the person's ability to operate trains; and

(5) Conducted when the person either

(i) Is at the controls of the type of train normally operated on that railroad or segment of railroad and which this person might be permitted or required by the railroad to operate in the normal course of events after certification or

(ii) Is at the controls of a Type I or Type II simulator programmed to replicate the responsive behavior of the type of train normally operated on that railroad or segment of railroad and which this person might be permitted or required by the railroad to operate in the normal course of events after certification.

(d) The conduct of the test shall be documented in writing by the designated supervisor and the documentation shall contain:

(1) The relevant facts concerning the train being operated;

(2) The constraints applicable to its operation; and

(3) The factors observed and relied on for evaluation purposes by the designated supervisor.

(e) Each railroad's program shall indicate the types of actions the railroad will take in the event that a person fails an initial examination or a reexamination of his or her performance skills in accordance with the procedures required under § 240.211.

(f) Each railroad's program shall describe the scoring system used by the railroad during a skills test administered in accordance with the procedures required under § 240.211. The description shall include the skills to be tested and the weight or possible score that each skill will be given.

[56 FR 28254, June 19, 1991, as amended at 64 FR 60992, Nov. 8, 1999; 74 FR 68183, Dec. 23, 2009; 85 FR 81313, Dec. 15, 2020]

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