Senate Bill S7699

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7699

SPONSOR: CARLUCCI
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the railroad law, in relation to sleep
apnea testing for locomotive engineers

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to require sleep apnea screening for
locomotive engineers and treatment for those who test positive.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one adds a new Section 97-b to the railroad law to require loco-
motive engineers to be screened for sleep apnea and for those who have
sleep apnea to attain documentation of compliance with treatment as
qualification to be employed as locomotive engineers.

Section two is the effective date.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

The National Transportation Safety Board recently confirmed that two
major train accidents were the result of sleep apnea. In September of
2016, a train crash in Hoboken, New Jersey was the result of the conduc-
tor's undiagnosed sleep apnea. The following year a Long Island Rail
Road train failed to stop and crashed, leaving more than 100 people
injured. That accident too was the result of sleep apnea. The federal
government has failed to address this problem.

Another example of an accident caused by sleep apnea was the tragic
December 2013 derailment of a Metro-North train in the Bronx. That acci-
dent, which took the lives of four people and injured sixty-one others,
was also caused by sleep apnea.

This legislation will require that train conductors be screened for
sleep apnea. Further, it will require that those who are diagnosed as
having sleep apnea receive treatment, in order to operate a train in New
York State.

There is simply too much at stake to risk conductors falling asleep
while operating a train. New Yorkers deserve to be secure in the know-
ledge that those we trust to operate our trains are alert and awake.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall become law.