RailwayOccupying main track only with authority
Before your train occupies the main track, or a segment of it, you need proper authority or permission under the railroad's mandatory directives. Occupying main track without it is one of the kinds of conduct that revoke a locomotive engineer's certificate under federal rules.
Free to startScenarios
- Your train is about to enter a segment of main track.
- You operate in joint operations territory with another railroad.
- An unannounced compliance test on the railroad's mandatory directives.
The steps
- Comply with every mandatory directive concerning the movement of the locomotive or train.
- Occupy main track, or a segment of main track, only with proper authority or permission. Critical point
- In joint operations territory, show your certificate when an officer of the other railroad asks for it.
- If you hold certificates from more than one railroad and one denies or revokes yours, immediately notify the other certifying railroads.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Occupying main track or a segment of main track without proper authority or permission is unlawful and revokes the certificate.
To pass
- Every movement on main track with its authority or permission.
- One incident revokes the certificate for 30 days; two within 24 months, 180 days; three within 36 months, one year; four within 36 months, three years.
- Only conduct in the last 36 months counts, and one incident that breaks several rules counts as a single violation.
- A violation during a properly conducted operational compliance test also counts; a test not conducted by the rules does not.
Official source
49 CFR Part 240: Qualification and Certification of Locomotive Engineers
The eCFR publishes 49 CFR Part 240 free: 240.305 lists the conduct that is unlawful for an engineer and 240.117 how long each case costs the certificate.
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