(a) Each railroad's program shall include criteria and procedures for implementing this section.

(b) A railroad shall provide for the continuing education of certified locomotive engineers to ensure that each engineer maintains the necessary knowledge, skill and ability concerning personal safety, operating rules and practices, mechanical condition of equipment, methods of safe train handling (including familiarity with physical characteristics as determined by a qualified Designated Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers), and relevant Federal safety rules.

(c) A railroad that elects to train a previously untrained person to be a locomotive engineer shall provide initial training which, at a minimum:

(1) Is composed of classroom, skill performance, and familiarization with physical characteristics components;

(2) Includes both knowledge and performance skill testing;

(3) Is conducted under the supervision of a qualified class instructor;

(4) Is subdivided into segments or periods of appropriate duration to effectively cover the following subject matter areas:

(i) Personal safety,

(ii) Railroad operating rules,

(iii) Mechanical condition of equipment,

(iv) Train handling procedures (including use of locomotive and train brake systems),

(v) Familiarization with physical characteristics including train handling, and

(vi) Compliance with Federal regulations;

(5) Is conducted so that the performance skill component shall

(i) Be under the supervision of a qualified instructor engineer located in the same control compartment whenever possible;

(ii) Place the student engineer at the controls of a locomotive for a significant portion of the time; and

(iii) Permit the student to experience whatever variety of types of trains are normally operated by the railroad.

(d) Pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, a person may acquire familiarity with the physical characteristics of a territory through the following methods if the specific conditions included in the description of each method are met. The methods used by a railroad for familiarizing its engineers with new territory while starting up a new railroad, starting operations over newly acquired rail lines, or reopening of a long unused route, shall be described in the railroad's locomotive engineer qualification program required under this part and submitted according to the procedures described in Appendix B to this part.

(1) If ownership of a railroad is being transferred from one company to another, the engineer(s) of the acquiring company may receive familiarization training from the selling company prior to the acquiring railroad commencing operation; or

(2) Failing to obtain familiarization training from the previous owner, opening a new rail line, or reopening an unused route would require that the engineer(s) obtain familiarization through other methods. Acceptable methods of obtaining familiarization include using hyrail trips or initial lite locomotive trips in compliance with what is specified in the railroad's locomotive engineer qualification program required under this part and submitted according to the procedures described in Appendix B to this part.

[56 FR 28254, June 19, 1991, as amended at 64 FR 60992, Nov. 8, 1999]