Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Transit Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 672</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FTA-2023-0025]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2132-AB43</RIN> <SUBJECT>Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Transit Administration (FTA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is publishing a final rule for the Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program (PTSCTP). This final rule clarifies voluntary PTSCTP participation and sets administrative requirements for communication processes between FTA and FTA recipients subject to the requirements of this rule. This final rule also adds new definitions and revises existing definitions to coordinate and align with other FTA programs and safety rulemakings. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The effective date of this final rule is November 1, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> FTA's Office of Transit Safety and Oversight (TSO) will host a webinar to discuss the requirements of the PTSCTP final rule. Please visit <E T="03">https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/safety/safety-training</E> to register for webinars and for information about future webinars. FTA is committed to providing equal access for all webinar participants. If you need alternative formats, options, or services, contact <E T="03">FTA-Knowledge@dot.gov</E> at least three business days prior to the event. If you have any questions, please email <E T="03">FTA-Knowledge@dot.gov</E> . <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For program matters, contact Jeremy Furrer, Office of Transit Safety and Oversight (TSO), (202) 366-8929 or <E T="03">jeremy.furrer@dot.gov</E> . For legal matters, contact Mark Montgomery, Office of Chief Counsel, (202) 366-1017 or <E T="03">mark.montgomery@dot.gov</E> . Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Statutory Authority</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of Key Provisions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Benefits and Costs</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Response to Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Section 672.3—Scope and Applicability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Section 672.5—Definitions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Section 672.11—State Safety Oversight Agency Employees and Contractors Who Conduct Reviews, Inspections, Examinations, and Other Safety Oversight Activities of Rail Fixed Guideway Public Transportation Systems</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Section 672.13—Rail Transit Agency Employees and Contractors Who Are Directly Responsible for the Safety Oversight or a Rail Fixed Guideway Public Transportation System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Section 672.17—Voluntary Participants</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Section 672.21—Records</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Section-by-Section Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Regulatory Analyses and Notices</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Executive Summary</HD> This final rule amends the PTSCTP regulation at 49 CFR part 672 with new administrative requirements for recipients that are subject to the requirements of the rule. The final rule maintains the existing minimum training requirements for State Safety Oversight Agency (SSOA) employees and contractors who conduct reviews, inspections, examinations, and other safety oversight activities of public transportation systems and employees and contractors who are directly responsible for the safety oversight of a rail fixed guideway public transportation system. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Statutory Authority</HD> Congress directed FTA to establish a comprehensive Public Transportation Safety Program, one element of which is the requirement for a PTSCTP in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) (Pub. L. 112-141), which was reauthorized by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) (Pub. L. 114-94). To implement the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5329(d), FTA issued a final rule on July 19, 2018, that added part 672, “Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program,” to title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (83 FR 34053). Subsequently, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58), established new requirements for FTA's Public Transportation Safety Program that will be addressed in the PTSCTP curriculum. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Summary of Key Provisions</HD> This final rule implements discretionary updates, including: • Addition of new definitions and revisions of existing definitions that do not change existing requirements and that were added to provide clarity and consistency across FTA programs and rulemakings. • Requirement for SSOAs and rail transit agencies to establish a point of contact for communication with FTA regarding PTSCTP participation and enrollment. • Requirement for SSOA and rail transit agency points of contact to provide semiannual reports to FTA regarding the status of their participants and agency-defined recertification training. • Clarification of voluntary participation in the PTSCTP. • Removal of Appendix A to allow flexibility in PTSCTP curriculum revision. In response to comments, FTA revised the term “refresher training” to “recertification training” in the final rule to clarify the applicability of the training required to maintain PTSCTP certification. Recertification requirements only apply to the “designated personnel” identified in § 672.11(a) and § 672.13(a). <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. Benefits and Costs</HD> The final rule adds administrative and training requirements for SSOAs and rail transit agencies subject to the PTSCTP. The rule would lead to increased compliance with PTSCTP requirements and cost savings for FTA staff; it would also result in increased costs for SSOAs and rail transit agencies. Table 1 summarizes the economic effects of the final rule over the first ten years from 2024 to 2033 in 2022 dollars. On an annualized basis, the rule would have net costs of $318,000 at a 2 percent discount rate, $321,000 at a 3 percent rate, and $334,000 at a 7 percent rate, discounted to 2024. <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s50,15,15,15"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Summary of Economic Effects, 2024-2033</TTITLE> [2022 Dollars, discounted to 2023] <CHED H="1">Item</CHED> <ENT I="03">Cost savings for FTA staff</ENT> <ENT>$6,022</ENT> <ENT>$6,081</ENT> <ENT>$6,317</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22">Costs:</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">Staff enrollment</ENT> <ENT>70,574</ENT> <ENT>71,266</ENT> <ENT>74,034</ENT> <ENT I="03">Point of contact identification</ENT> <ENT>11,762</ENT> <ENT>11,878</ENT> <ENT>12,339</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">Point of contact responsibilities</ENT> <ENT>130,903</ENT> <ENT>132,187</ENT> <ENT>137,320</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">Semi-annual reporting</ENT> <ENT>23,525</ENT> <ENT>23,755</ENT> <ENT>24,678</ENT> </ROW> <ROW RUL="n,s"> <ENT I="03">Refresher training</ENT> <ENT>87,316</ENT> <ENT>88,172</ENT> <ENT>91,596</ENT> </ROW> <ROW RUL="n,s"> <ENT I="05">Total costs</ENT> <ENT>324,080</ENT> <ENT>327,258</ENT> <ENT>339,967</ENT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Response to Comments</HD> FTA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the PTSCTP on October 26, 2023 (88 FR 73573). <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The public comment period for the NPRM closed on December 26, 2023. FTA received 15 comment submissions to the rulemaking docket. Commenters included States, transit agencies, industry associations, individuals, and a nonprofit organization. FTA has considered these comments and addresses them in the corresponding sections below. Some comments were outside the scope of this rulemaking, and FTA does not respond to comments in this final rule that were outside the scope. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program, 88 FR 73573 (October 26, 2023). <E T="03">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/26/2023-23515/public-transportation-safety-certification-training-program</E> . </FTNT> FTA reviewed all relevant comments and took them into consideration when developing the final rule. Below, the NPRM comments and responses are subdivided by the corresponding sections of the proposed rule and subject matter. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Section 672.3—Scope and Applicability</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">1. General</HD> <E T="03">Comments:</E> Several commenters offered comments related to the PTSCTP curriculum. One nonprofit organization stated that given current safety concerns, the PTSCTP training curriculum is still relevant. One individual encouraged FTA to ensure training availability is appropriate to meet the industry's demand, given the rate of turnover within agencies. A transit agency and one individual requested that the Transportation Safety Institute (TSI) course <E T="03">Transit Safety and Security Audits</E> be added to the PTSCTP training curriculum for rail transit agencies and SSOAs, arguing that audits and reviews are activities required by FTA and that it is critical for safety professionals to be trained and qualified to perform audit/review/inspections activities. An industry association requested that FTA provide a timeline for any changes to the PTSCTP training curriculum to provide time for transit agencies to address any changes. Other commenters requested broad changes to the PTSCTP requirements. One nonprofit organization requested tha ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 82k characters. 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