FTA seeks data on stop signal overruns

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) late last week issued Safety Advisory 16-1 to collect information on the frequency of stop signal overruns in the transit-rail industry.

Photo: Federal Transit Administration

The FTA also seeks to learn about actions being taken to address any occurrences of these incidents, agency officials said in a press release.

Although the FTA is aware of stop signal overrun incidents, it lacks an industry-wide database on the topic. Some state safety oversight agencies (SSOA) require transit-rail operators under their jurisdictions to report any instances in which a passenger or maintenance vehicle overruns a stop signal, while others do not.

In addition, definitions, reporting thresholds and data analysis are inconsistent across the industry, FTA officials said.

Under the new safety advisory, each SSOA is required to provide the FTA with the total number of stop signal overruns that occurred during calendar year 2015 at each transit agency within its oversight.

In addition, the FTA is asking for a description of the process each transit agency uses to internally detect stop signal overruns, as well as the process it uses to report these kinds of incidents to its SSOA.

SSOAs are required to submit the requested information within 90 days of the advisory's issuance.