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| Re: Obama administration proposing federal oversight of subways and light rail (859015) | |||
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Re: Obama administration proposing federal oversight of subways and light rail |
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Posted by ctrabs74 on Sun Nov 15 23:08:27 2009, in response to Re: Obama administration proposing federal oversight of subways and light rail, posted by Sand Box John on Sun Nov 15 21:11:29 2009. I think what Obama administration wants to do is setup a separate agency within USDOT that would have oversight and regulatory authority over public transit enterprises that operate rail passenger service on non common carrier tracks.With all due respect, John, I believe your analysis is incorrect. From the article that you linked: Under the administration's proposal, states that kept their oversight bodies would have to pass safety certification programs and demonstrate that they had an adequately trained staff, as well as financial independence and authority to compel compliance from systems they oversee. States running their own programs would receive federal funds to cover salaries, training and other expenses. Federal regulations would ensure that the state programs established standards similar to those set by federal monitors. The Federal Transit Administration would assume direct oversight for states that opt out of safety monitoring. The agency also would take over for state organizations that the administration determined to be inadequate. If subway or light-rail systems did not meet the new safety standards, they would risk losing federal funding for capital expenditures, according to an administration official who was briefed on the plan. Transit systems would be responsible for shouldering the cost of complying with new federal safety requirements. The plan would also allow the FTA to issue safety regulations for bus transit systems, but officials said early efforts would focus on rail. I am interpreting this as having the existing FTA act as the regulatory authority should this proposal go forward. I would suspect that there will be hearings at the federal levels and that the transit agencies - and to an extent, the unions - are going to have some say over this. Elsewhere in the thread, there was mention that NYCTA employees on the subway side could potentially be covered under the same federal laws that cover railroad (ie. MNRR and LIRR) employees. I doubt that would be the case, considering how much influence organized labor has in the White House and the Democrat controlled Congress. |
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