RailwayStopping at a signal that requires a stop
You are the certified engineer at the controls and the signal ahead requires a complete stop. You control the train by the signal indication and stop before passing it. Passing it is one of the five kinds of conduct that cost a locomotive engineer the certificate under federal rules, and railroads test it without warning.
Free to startScenarios
- A signal ahead displays an indication that requires a complete stop.
- An unannounced compliance test on a signal that displays less than a clear aspect.
- A Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers rides with you for the yearly operational monitoring observation.
The steps
- On duty as an engineer, carry your certificate and show it when FRA, a State inspector or an officer of the railroad asks for it.
- Read each signal indication ahead and control the locomotive or train in accordance with it.
- At a signal indication that requires a complete stop, stop the locomotive or train before passing it. Critical point
- Respond to signals that display less than a clear aspect as the railroad's operating rules require.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Operating a locomotive or train past a signal indication that requires a complete stop is unlawful and revokes the certificate.
- A Designated Supervisor, certified pilot or instructor engineer with you who does not act to prevent it, for example by warning you, also loses the certificate, except a supervisor running the railroad's operational compliance tests.
To pass
- The train stopped before every signal indication that requires a complete stop.
- Hand signals, radio signals and switches are excluded from this federal rule.
- 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.
- Each engineer gets at least one operational monitoring observation and one unannounced compliance test every calendar year.
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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