Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standards (PRESS)

The American Public Transit Association (APTA) recognizes that, for many years, formal safety standards specific to the rail passenger industry have not been maintained by either the Federal government or the rail passenger industry. To help fill this void, APTA passenger railroad members elected to take on the responsibility for developing and maintaining passenger rail equipment safety standards. Commuter railroads and Amtrak collectively budgeted $1.2 million to fund the Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standards (PRESS) Task Force to develop industry safety standards for passenger rail equipment. More than 100 people representing passenger railroads, equipment builders and suppliers, labor organizations, government agencies and consultants to the rail industry are participating in the PRESS effort. The Task Force organized itself into committees that identified a need for over 60 safety standards and recommended practices pertaining to railroad passenger equipment. Approximately one half of these documents have been completed, the remainder are in-process. They will be adopted and compiled in the first edition of APTA's Manual of Passenger Equipment Safety Standards and Recommended Practices to be published in the first quarter of 1999.