(a) Railroad and parent company certification program submission. (1)(i) A railroad's certification program submission must include a copy of its certification program and a request for FRA approval.

(ii) Any parent company that submits a single certification program for one or more subsidiary railroads shall provide a list of its railroads that will utilize the program.

(iii) If a parent company submits a certification program on behalf of one or more of its subsidiary railroads, the parent company shall assume responsibility for compliance with this part for all railroads identified on the list required by paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section.

(2) For a railroad or parent company's initial certification program submission, the request for FRA approval can be in letter or narrative format and shall include a statement that the railroad or parent company is seeking approval of its program from FRA.

(3) If a railroad or parent company is making a material modification to a program that has been previously approved by FRA, the request for FRA approval can be in letter or narrative format and shall include a copy of the modified certification program that identifies all proposed changes from the last FRA-approved version of the program.

(4) A railroad or parent company will receive approval or disapproval notices from FRA by email.

(5) FRA may electronically store any materials required by this part.

(b) Organization of the certification program. Each certification program must be organized to present the required information in paragraphs (b)(1) through (6) of this section. Each section of the certification program must begin with the name, title, telephone number, and email address of the person to be contacted concerning the matters addressed by that section. If a person is identified in a prior section, it is sufficient to merely repeat the person's name in a subsequent section.

(1) Section One of the certification program: General information and elections.

(i) The first section of the certification program must contain the name of the railroad or parent company submitting the program, the person to be contacted concerning the request for FRA approval (including the person's name, title, telephone number, and email address), and a statement electing either to accept responsibility for training persons not previously certified as signal employees (“initial signal employee training”) or to not accept this responsibility.

(ii) If a railroad or parent company elects to not provide initial signal employee training, the railroad or parent company shall make the determinations required by § 246.125. The railroad or parent company will be limited to certifying signal employees previously certified by another railroad. A railroad or parent company can change its election by obtaining FRA approval of a material modification to its program, in accordance with § 246.103(g).

(iii) If a railroad or parent company elects to accept responsibility for providing initial signal employee training to persons not previously certified as signal employees, the railroad or parent company must submit information explaining how such persons will be trained but is not required to perform such training. A railroad or parent company that elects to accept responsibility for providing initial signal employee training may authorize another railroad or non-railroad entity to perform the training. A railroad or parent company that authorizes another railroad or non-railroad entity to perform such training must provide the name of the training provider in its certification program but shall remain responsible for ensuring that the training provider adheres to the training program submitted in the railroad or parent company's certification program.

(iv) If a railroad or parent company elects to classify its certified signal employees into more than one occupational category or subcategory by class, task, location, or other suitable terminology, the railroad or parent company shall include the following in the first section of its certification program:

(A) An up-to-date list and description of each occupational category or subcategory of certified signal employee;

(B) A statement of the roles and responsibilities of each occupational category or subcategory of certified signal employee; and

(C) A detailed list of the safety-related tasks and subtasks performed by each occupational category or subcategory of certified signal employee.

(2) Section Two of the certification program: Training previously certified signal employees. The second section of the certification program must contain information about the railroad or parent company's program for training previously certified signal employees, including all of the following information:

(i) As provided for in § 246.119(i), each railroad must have a program for the ongoing education of its certified signal employees to ensure that they maintain the necessary knowledge concerning applicable Federal railroad safety laws, regulations, and orders; railroad signal system safety and operating rules; and applicable standards, procedures, and instructions for the installation, operation, testing, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of signal systems and signal-related technology deployed on the railroad. The railroad or parent company must describe in this section of the program how it will ensure that its certified signal employees maintain the necessary knowledge and skills to safely discharge their responsibilities so as to comply with the standard set forth in § 246.119(i).

(ii) The railroad or parent company must provide sufficient detail in this section of its program to permit effective evaluation of its training program in terms of the subject matters covered, the frequency and duration of training sessions (including the interval between attendance at such training sessions), the training environment employed (for example, use of classroom, use of computer-based training, use of film or slide presentations, and use of on-the-job training), and which aspects of the training program will be voluntary or mandatory.

(iii) The railroad or parent company must explain how the training program will address a certified signal employee's loss of retained knowledge over time.

(iv) The railroad or parent company must explain how the training program will address changed circumstances over time, such as the introduction of new or modified signal system equipment and signal-related technology (including software modifications), to ensure qualification on the railroad's signal system and signal-related technology and compliance with the training standard set forth in § 246.119.

(v) The railroad or parent company must explain how qualification training will be provided, how long a certified signal employee can be absent from performing work on signal systems and signal-related technology before needing to be requalified (a time period that cannot exceed 12 months), and once that threshold is reached, how the signal employee will acquire the needed qualification.

(vi) The railroad or parent company must explain how it will administer training for previously certified signal employees who have had their certification expire. If a railroad or parent company's certification program fails to specify how it will administer training for these signal employees, then the railroad or parent company shall require them to successfully complete the railroad or parent company's entire training program.

(3) Section Three of the certification program: Testing and evaluating previously certified signal employees. The third section of the certification program must contain information about the railroad or parent company's program for testing and evaluating previously certified signal employees, including all of the following information:

(i) The railroad or parent company must describe in this section how it will ensure that its previously certified signal employees demonstrate their knowledge concerning the safe discharge of their responsibilities, so as to comply with the standards set forth in § 246.121.

(ii) The railroad or parent company must describe in this section how it will have ongoing testing and evaluation to ensure that its previously certified signal employees have the necessary visual and hearing acuity as provided for in §§ 246.117 and 246.118. This section must also address how the railroad or parent company will ensure that its medical examiners have sufficient information concerning the railroad's operations, as well as the certified signal employee's safety-related tasks, to effectively form appropriate conclusions about the ability of a particular individual to safely perform as a certified signal employee.

(4) Section Four of the certification program: Training, testing, and evaluating persons not previously certified. Unless a railroad or parent company has elected to not provide initial signal employee certification training, the fourth section of the certification program must contain information about the railroad or parent company's program for educating, testing, and evaluating persons not previously certified as signal employees, including all of the following information:

(i) As provided for in § 246.119, a railroad or parent company that is issuing an initial signal employee certification to a person must have a program for the training, testing, and evaluation of its signal employee certification candidates to ensure that they acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. A railroad or parent company must describe in this section how it will ensure that its signal employee certification candidates acquire sufficient knowledge and skills and demonstrate their knowledge and skills concerning the safe discharge of their responsibilities. A railroad or parent company must also discuss its procedures for mentoring candidates for signal employee certification, in accordance with § 246.124;

(ii) This section of the certification program must contain the same level of detail about the initial signal employee training program and the testing and evaluation of previously uncertified signal employees as is required for previously certified signal employees in paragraphs (b)(2) and (3) of this section (Sections Two and Three of the certification program);

(iii) Railroads and parent companies that elect to rely on other entities to conduct signal employee certification training must explain how certification candidates will be provided with the required training on the signal systems and signal-related technology deployed on the railroad or parent company's territory.

(iv) This section of the certification program must explain how the railroad or parent company will administer the training of previously uncertified signal employees with extensive signal experience. If a railroad or parent company's certification program fails to specify how it will train these signal employees, then the railroad or parent company shall require them to successfully complete the railroad or parent company's entire training program.

(5) Section Five of the certification program: Monitoring operational performance by certified signal employees. The fifth section of the certification program must contain information about the railroad or parent company's program for monitoring the operational performance of its certified signal employees, including all of the following information:

(i) Section 246.123 requires that a railroad conduct ongoing monitoring of its certified signal employees and that each certified signal employee performing signal work that requires certification have an annual unannounced compliance test. A railroad or parent company must describe in this section of its certification program its ongoing program for monitoring that its certified signal employees demonstrate their skills concerning the safe discharge of their responsibilities.

(ii) A railroad or parent company must describe the scoring system used by the railroad during an operational monitoring observation or unannounced compliance test administered in accordance with the procedures required under § 246.123.

(6) Section Six of the certification program: Procedures for routine administration of the signal employee certification program. The final section of the certification program must contain a summary of how the railroad or parent company's program and procedures will implement various aspects of the regulatory provisions in this part that relate to the routine administration of its certification program for signal employees. Specifically, this section must address the procedural aspects of the following provisions and must describe the manner in which the railroad or parent company will implement its program so as to comply with all of the following provisions:

(i) Section 246.301, which provides that each railroad must have procedures for review and comment on adverse information.

(ii) Sections 246.111, 246.113, 246.115, and 246.303, which require a railroad to have procedures for evaluating data concerning prior safety conduct as a motor vehicle operator and as a railroad worker.

(iii) Sections 246.109, 246.201, and 246.301, which place a duty on the railroad to make a series of determinations. When describing how it will implement its certification program to comply with those sections, a railroad or parent company must describe: the procedures it will utilize to ensure that all of the necessary determinations have been made in a timely fashion; who will be authorized to conclude that a person will or will not be certified; and how the railroad or parent company will communicate adverse decisions.

(iv) Sections 246.109, 246.117, 246.118, 246.119, and 246.121, which place a duty on the railroad to make a series of determinations. When describing how it will implement its program to comply with these sections, a railroad or parent company must describe how it will document the factual basis the railroad or parent company relied on in making determinations under these sections.

(v) Section 246.124, which require each railroad to have procedures for mentoring signal employees who have not been certified.

(vi) Section 246.125, which permits reliance on signal employee certification determinations made by other railroads.

(vii) Sections 246.207 and 246.307, which contain the requirements for replacing lost certificates and the conduct of certification revocation proceedings.