An amendment numbered 1 printed in House Report 110-371 to require the Federal Railroad Safety Administration to issue regulations requiring owners of track carried on one or more railroad bridges to adopt safety practices to prevent the deterioration of railroad bridges and reduce the risk of human casualties, environmental damage, and disruption to the Nation's transportation system that would result from a catastrophic bridge failure. The amendment also strikes Sections 301, 610, and 616 of the reported bill because these sections were enacted in Public Law 110-53, the `Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.' The amendment would also require the Secretary to consider additional criteria regarding communities when reviewing applications for a waiver or exemption from sounding locomotive horns at highway-rail grade crossings.

Page 27, line 19, through page 34, line 14, amend title III to read as follows (and amend the table of contents accordingly):

TITLE III--BRIDGE SAFETY

SEC. 301. RAILROAD BRIDGE SAFETY ASSURANCE.

Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Railroad Safety Administration shall implement regulations requiring owners of track carried on one or more railroad bridges to adopt safety practices to prevent the deterioration of railroad bridges and reduce the risk of human casualties, environmental damage, and disruption to the Nation's transportation system that would result from a catastrophic bridge failure. The regulations shall, at a minimum--

(1) require each track owner to--

(A) develop and maintain an accurate inventory of its railroad bridges, which shall identify the location of each bridge, its configuration, type of construction, number of spans, span lengths, and all other information necessary to provide for the safe management of the bridges;

(B) ensure that a professional engineer competent in the field of railroad bridge engineering, or a qualified person under the supervision of the track owner, determines bridge capacity;

(C) maintain, and update as appropriate, a record of the safe capacity of each bridge which carries its track and, if available, maintain the original design documents of each bridge and a documentation of all repairs, modifications, and inspections of the bridge;

(D) develop, maintain, and enforce a written procedure that will ensure that its bridges are not loaded beyond their capacities;

(E) conduct regular comprehensive inspections of each bridge, at least once per year, and maintain records of those inspections that include the date on which the inspection was performed, the precise identification of the bridge inspected, the items inspected, an accurate description of the condition of those items, and a narrative of any inspection item that is found by the inspector to be a potential problem;

(F) ensure that the level of detail and the inspection procedures are appropriate to the configuration of the bridge, conditions found during previous inspections, and the nature of the railroad traffic moved over the bridge, including car weights, train frequency and length, levels of passenger and hazardous materials traffic, and vulnerability of the bridge to damage;

(G) ensure that an engineer who is competent in the field of railroad bridge engineering--

(i) is responsible for the development of all inspection procedures;

(ii) reviews all inspection reports; and

(iii) determines whether bridges are being inspected according to the applicable procedures and frequency, and reviews any items noted by an inspector as exceptions; and

(H) designate qualified bridge inspectors or maintenance personnel to authorize the operation of trains on bridges following repairs, damage, or indications of potential structural problems;

(2) instruct Administration bridge inspectors to obtain copies of the most recent bridge management programs and procedures of each railroad within the inspector's areas of responsibility, and require that inspectors use those programs when conducting bridge inspections; and

(3) establish a program to review bridge inspection and maintenance data from railroads and Administration bridge inspectors periodically.

Page 73, lines 18 through 21, strike section 610.

Page 73, line 22, through page 77, line 16, redesignate sections 611 through 615 as sections 610 through 614, respectively (and amend the table of contents accordingly).

Page 79, line 1, through page 80, line 7, strike section 616 (and amend the table of contents accordingly).

Page 80, after line 7, insert the following new section (and amend the table of contents accordingly):

SEC. 615. LOCOMOTIVE HORN REQUIREMENT WAIVER.

Section 20153(c) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(3) The Secretary, in reviewing applications for waivers or exemptions, shall consider horn noise and the impact of such noise on the local community and the unique characteristics of the community.”.