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Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)

Rail Transit Safety and Security Oversight (SSO) Program

2015 Annual Program Status Report

Office of Transit

1980 West Broad Street

Columbus, Ohio 43223

April 2016

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Executive Summary

This 2015 Annual Program Status Report highlights the changing transit safety program

landscape at the federal, state, and transit agency levels, with a focus on calendar year 2015. This

report generally focuses on activities and accomplishments that are a part of the Ohio

Department of Transportation (ODOT) Rail Transit State Safety and Security Oversight (SSO)

program. In addition, this status report is federally required to be provided annually to the

Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Governor of the State of Ohio, and the boards of

directors or equivalent for the rail transit agencies (RTAs) in the State of Ohio – Greater

Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

(SORTA), and the City of Cincinnati.

As background, the ODOT SSO program was originally developed in 1996 in response to an

FTA regulation, 49 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 659, focused on establishing a state

safety oversight (SSO) program for rail transit systems not already regulated by the Federal

Railroad Administration (FRA). This regulation tasks a state to oversee the safety and security

programs of rail fixed guideway systems through a designated oversight agency, which in Ohio

is ODOT’s Office of Transit. The SSO rule was revised in 2005 to make improvements and

provide additional direction to states with SSO programs. The ODOT SSO program has provided

safety and security oversight for GCRTA since the beginning of the regulation and now for the

Cincinnati Streetcar project since 2012.

Enhanced FTA Safety Program

Since the passage of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) in July 2012, the

FTA Office of Safety and Oversight (TSO) has been working to establish all of the regulations

that would implement the new federal safety program requirements for states and public transit

agencies. These FTA rulemaking activities have kept the transit industry extremely busy trying

to understand and provide feedback in order to establish the enhanced, but efficient and effective,

transit safety programs. MAP-21 was also recently replaced by a five-year surface transportation

bill, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, in December 2015, adding a few

updates to and clarifications for the FTA’s safety programs. A summary of FTA’s rulemakings

based on the new safety program requirements from 49 U.S.C. Section 5329 are listed here:

FTA Transportation Safety Program (August 2015) – notice for proposed rulemaking

(NPRM) that described the FTA’s responsibilities for the new transit safety programs, to

be codified at 49 CFR Part 670. This includes requirements for the National Safety Plan

and the use of FTA’s transit-specific safety management system (SMS).

Draft National Safety Plan (February 2016) – a draft National Safety Plan was

released in the Federal Register for public comment. One of the main highlights of this

draft plan are the safety performance criteria for the transit industry, which were chosen

to be fatalities; injuries; specific safety events; and system reliability.

Agency Safety Plan (February 2016) – this is the most recent NPRM and covers the

requirements of this new safety plan that will eventually replace the system safety

program plan (SSPP) and implement the transit-specific SMS at the transit agency and

state levels (for smaller transit bus agencies). This regulation will be codified at 49 CFR

Part 673.

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Safety Certification Training Program (April 2014 and December 2015) – this

program currently has an interim final rule (IFR) and an NPRM for a final rule to be

codified at 49 CFR Part 672. This training program has specific training requirements for

state SSO staff and rail transit agency (RTA) safety oversight staff that includes the

Transportation Safety Institute’s (TSI) Transit Safety and Security Program (TSSP)

certificate classes and specific classes for the transit-specific SMS. In addition, there is a

requirement for the state SSO program to have training developed and provided by the

RTAs in regards to rail system and safety program related awareness.

Enhanced State Safety Oversight (SSO, March 2016)) – this new regulation (49 CFR

Part 674) has just been finalized in March 2016 and goes into effect April 2016 with three

years to fully implement at the state level. This regulation will eventually replace the

current SSO rule (49 CFR Part 659) as state SSO programs achieve the FTA’s

Certification requirements.

Transit Asset Management (TAM, September 2015) – this NPRM establishes

requirements for TAM and state of good repair (SGR) for the transit industry and the data

submission requirements for TAM into the National Transit Database (NTD).

Efforts to Enhance the ODOT SSO Program

The ODOT SSO program has been responsive to all of the rulemakings and requirements made

by FTA, requiring enhancements to the ODOT SSO program. These enhancements have been

coordinated with and communicated to the two Ohio RTAs (GCRTA and SORTA/Cincinnati

Streetcar), and are described here:

Self-Assessment – The development of the enhanced ODOT SSO program activities

started with a required self-assessment comparing the new requirements of MAP-21’s

version of FTA’s Safety Program to the current SSO rule implementation, and this self-

assessment was provided to FTA on August 30, 2013. FTA responded with a letter on

October 1, 2013 indicating that the ODOT SSO program was not pre-certified, but was

qualified to develop a certification work plan (CWP) and apply for SSO program grant

funding (referred to as Section 5329 grant funding). Only two states were pre-certified at

that time – California and Massachusetts, based on their established enforcement

authority as part of being a state public utilities commission.

Re-designation of SSO Agency (SSOA) – For the new SSO program, FTA required the

state to re-designate the ODOT Office of Transit as the SSOA for the state. This was

completed through a letter, dated November 12, 2014, from Governor John Kasich to the

FTA Region V Administrator, Ms. Marisol Simon.

ODOT SSO Program Certification Work Plan (CWP) – This CWP was submitted via

letter on May 1, 2014. FTA notified the ODOT SSO program that this CWP was

approved on May 16, 2014. The CWP consists of five sections, and the ODOT SSO

program defined eight deliverables as proof of achieving the requirements of the

enhanced SSO program. To date, all eight deliverables have been provided to the FTA.

FTA has indicated that the ODOT SSO program is expected to be certified in 2016.

Updated Program Standard – The ODOT SSO program completely redesigned its Rail

Transit Safety and Security Oversight Program Standard (SSOPS) to accommodate

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adding a second RTA, the Cincinnati Streetcar project, and addressing the new SSO

program requirements from MAP-21 and FTA. This update was posted on the website

November 16, 2015. Additional changes to this SSOPS are expected in 2016.

FTA Safety Advisories (SA) – The ODOT SSO program has worked with GCRTA to

properly respond to requests/requirements from FTA for specific audits and

investigations from existing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

recommendations. These FTA SAs are expected to continue (e.g., SA 16-1 for analysis of

stop signal violations was released in April 2016) as requirements for the ODOT SSO

program and the Ohio RTAs. Responses have been provided for:

o SA 14-1 for Right-of-Way Worker Protection (RWP);

o SA 14-2 Verification of Safe Rail Vehicle Stopping Distances at Terminal

Stations; and

o SA 15-1 Audit of RTA Subway Tunnel Environments

GCRTA Rail Safety Program Status

From the ODOT SSO program perspective, the GCRTA rail system safety and security programs

are being managed properly and all deadlines for annual certification continue to be completed

on time. The working relationship with GCRTA executive management, department

management, and staff continues to be excellent. GCRTA’s challenges from a safety perspective

continue to be properly managing aging infrastructure and rail vehicles, as well as turnover of

middle management and technical staff. GCRTA has been working to fully complete their transit

asset management activities for rail infrastructure and vehicles so that priorities for technical

projects and purchasing of materials can be more effectively prioritized, including from a safety

perspective. GCRTA has also invested significantly into training and capabilities for the

technical staff in rail-related departments. These activities require a tremendous amount of effort

and discipline, and significant progress continues to be made.

Cincinnati Streetcar Rail Safety Program Status

From the ODOT SSO program perspective, the Cincinnati Streetcar project team (City of

Cincinnati, SORTA, and Transdev) and rail system safety and security programs are being

managed properly and all deadlines for developing documentation for the safety and security

programs are being met. The working relationship with the project team management and staff

continues to be excellent. The challenges ahead are completion of safety and security

certification for construction and acceptance of rail vehicles, as well as planned start-up of

revenue service on September 15, 2016.

Highlights for 2016

The 2016 calendar year is expected to be busy with planned (and already completed) activities

for the ODOT SSO program as follows:

FTA Office of Safety and Oversight (TSO) completed their Safety and Security

Readiness Review (SSRR) for the Cincinnati Streetcar project and the ODOT SSO

program in Cincinnati during January 12-14, 2016.

FTA TSO has completed a three-year review of the ODOT SSO program in Cleveland

during March 1-2, 2016.

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The ODOT SSO program completed all of the defined CWP deliverables for FTA

certification in April 2016.

Required completion of Annual Reports and Certification from GCRTA by January 31st

and Approval from the ODOT SSO program has been completed. Required annual data

and information submission and annual certification by the ODOT SSO program to FTA

by March 31st has been completed.

Several FTA rulemakings are expected to be completed during 2016 and will require

significant work from the ODOT SSO program to implement the final requirements and

coordinate with the Ohio RTAs.

Quarterly meetings will continue, as scheduled.

o GCRTA – January, April, July, and October

o SORTA/City of Cincinnati – February, May, August, and November

Cincinnati Streetcar safety and security certification, testing, and start-up of revenue

service are to be completed by September 15, 2016. The ODOT SSO program is required

to be a part of the final decision-making for that start-up.

Cleveland is hosting several major events in 2016, including the Republican National

Convention in July 2016, with significant support by the GCRTA transit systems.

ODOT SSO program staff will continue to attend required FTA safety certification

training classes and to implement the technical training plans with both GCRTA and the

Cincinnati Streetcar project.

Both Ohio RTAs (GCRTA and SORTA) Safety and Security staff continue to work

towards completing FTA-required safety certification training.

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Introduction

This 2015 Annual Program Status Report highlights the changing transit safety program

landscape at the federal, state, and transit agency levels, with an emphasis on calendar year 2015.

This report generally focuses on activities and accomplishments that are a part of the Ohio

Department of Transportation (ODOT) Rail Transit State Safety and Security Oversight (SSO)

program. As the initial annual report for the ODOT SSO Program, background information from

the past several years’ activities are provided to enhance the context of the report. In addition,

this status report is federally required1 to be provided annually to the Federal Transit

Administration (FTA), the Governor of the State of Ohio, and the boards of directors or

equivalent for the rail transit agencies (RTAs) in the State of Ohio – Greater Cleveland Regional

Transit Authority (GCRTA), the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA), and the

City of Cincinnati.

As background, the ODOT SSO program was originally developed in 1996 in response to an

FTA regulation, 49 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 659, and focused on establishing a

state safety oversight (SSO) program for rail transit systems not already regulated by the Federal

Railroad Administration (FRA). This regulation tasks a state to oversee the safety and security

programs of rail fixed guideway systems through a designated oversight agency. The rule was

revised in 2005 to make improvements and provide additional direction to the states with SSO

programs.

In Ohio, the designated state safety oversight agency (SSOA) has been and continues to be the

ODOT Office of Transit. The ODOT Office of Transit provides financial and technical

assistance to public transit systems, local governments, and human service agencies throughout

the state for the planning, establishment, and operation of those public transit systems. The

ODOT SSO program has provided safety and security oversight for GCRTA since the beginning

of the program and now for the Cincinnati Streetcar project since 2012.

Enhancements to the Federal Transit Safety Program

Starting with the passage of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) in July

2012, the SSO authority was changed again with significantly more authority, responsibility, and

funding for the state SSO programs and the FTA SSO program. Previous to MAP-21, the SSO

programs were an unfunded mandate, and states were responsive, but generally only providing

the minimum effort required and specifically only what the FTA SSO program required and

enforced.

Since MAP-21 went into effect, the FTA Office of Safety and Oversight (TSO) has been

working to establish all of the regulations that will implement the new federal expectations of the

safety program for states and public transit agencies. These FTA rulemaking activities have kept

the transit industry extremely busy trying to understand and provide feedback in order to

establish the enhanced, but efficient and effective, transit safety programs. ODOT has provided

feedback for these rulemakings from both the perspective of being a state DOT and for the

1 Federally required in 49 U.S.C. Section 5329(e)(4)(A)(vii) and 49 CFR Part 674.13(a)(7).

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ODOT SSO program. FTA safety program rulemaking activities published in the Federal

Register and status are summarized as follows:

Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) on FTA’s Safety Program

Changes, October 3, 2013 – provided an overview of FTA’s vision of the new safety

program, state of good repair, and transit asset management, along with a request for

input from the transit industry with 123 questions. FTA has used this initial ANPRM as

part of their justification for the other rulemakings presented here.

Interim Safety Certification Training Program Provisions, April 30, 2014 – this was

first a notice from FTA for comment, and then was finalized February 27, 2015. The

safety certification training requires both the SSO program staff and rail transit agency

(RTA) staff to complete specific safety-related training requirements from the U.S.

Department of Transportation (DOT) Transportation Safety Institute (TSI). In addition,

the SSO programs must work with the state’s RTAs to develop rail system awareness

training for the SSO program staff, designated Technical Training Plans (TTPs).

State Safety Oversight NPRM, February 27, 2015 – provided FTA’s vision of the

higher expectations for the state SSO programs to be published as 49 CFR Part 674, and

this regulation would eventually replace 49 CFR Part 659. FTA finalized this rule on

March 16, 2016 and it went into effect on April 15, 2016.

Public Transportation Safety Program NPRM, August 14, 2015 – explains FTA’s

policy and requirements for a National Safety Plan and its content, implementation of a

transit-specific Safety Management System (SMS), and FTA leadership and participation

in investigations. This NPRM indicates that FTA has decided to use four safety

performance criteria based on data already collected by transit agencies: fatalities,

injuries, safety-related events, and system reliability. This NPRM will eventually be

regulation as 49 CFR Part 670.

Transit Asset Management (TAM) NPRM, September 30, 2015 – establishes the

requirements for TAM as part of state of good repair (SGR) for transit agencies. This new

requirement will eventually be 49 CFR Part 625, with significant data collection and

reporting required to the National Transit Database (NTD) per 49 CFR Part 630.

Final Rule for Safety Certification Training Program NPRM, December 3, 2015 –

takes the Safety Certification Training Program from an Interim Final Rule to a Final

Rule as 49 CFR Part 672. This draft final rule provides a clearer picture of required safety

training and staff at the state and RTAs that must have the training. Bus transit agencies

continue to have access to the safety training program, as a voluntary participant.

Agency Safety Plan NPRM, February 5, 2016 – describes the requirements for each

transit agency (except those with safety programs regulated by another federal agency) to

develop an agency safety plan in place of the system safety program plan (SSPP), and

based on FTA’s transit-specific SMS. This NPRM will eventually be regulation at 49

CFR Part 673. The first draft National Safety Plan was also released for formal comment

by FTA at the same time as this NPRM.

MAP-21 was originally a two-year (FY2013-FY2014) surface transportation funding

mechanism, but was extended several times until a new five-year bill was passed and signed in

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December 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FAST Act

provides continued level funding for the SSO programs. There were also clarifications added to

Section 5329 for FTA’s authority to temporarily take over a state’s SSO program and

responsibilities when the SSO program is deemed to be ineffective. This authority is currently

being used by FTA TSO to provide oversight of the Washington Metropolitan Area

Transportation Authority (WMATA) until the replacement for the Tri-state Oversight Committee

(TOC) SSO program is developed and working. Another important clarification is the penalty for

a state not being certified as a compliant MAP-21 SSO program is now capped at up to 25

percent of a state’s Section 5307 (urban transit agencies) grant funding from FTA.

Enhancements to the ODOT SSO Program

The ODOT SSO program has been responsive to all of the rulemakings and requirements made

by FTA. Enhancements to the ODOT SSO program have been coordinated with and

communicated to the two Ohio RTAs (GCRTA and SORTA/Cincinnati Streetcar). These

activities started with a self-assessment of the ODOT SSO program compared to the new

requirements of MAP-21’s version of Section 5329, which was provided to FTA TSO on August

30, 2013. FTA responded with a letter on October 1, 2013 indicating that the ODOT SSO

program was not pre-certified, but was qualified to develop a certification work plan (CWP) and

apply for SSO program grant funding (referred to as Section 5329 grant funding). Only two

states were pre-certified by FTA at that time – California and Massachusetts based on their

established enforcement authority as part of being a public utilities commission in each state.

One of the requirements from the new SSO program was for Ohio to re-designate the ODOT

Office of Transit as the SSOA for the state. This was completed through a letter, dated

November 12, 2014, from Governor John Kasich to the FTA Region V Administrator, Ms.

Marisol Simon. The ODOT SSO program also developed their CWP for becoming certified as

compliant with the new SSO program, via letter on May 1, 2014. FTA notified the ODOT SSO

program that their CWP was approved on May 16, 2014.

ODOT SSO Certification Work Plan (CWP) Status

FTA SSO CWPs include five required sections based on 49 U.S.C. Section 5329(e). The ODOT

SSO program CWP includes tasks and deliverables to provide evidence to FTA of progress

towards certification. The CWP sections and ODOT SSO program letter deliverables to date are

described.

CWP Section 1. Independence from Rail Fixed Guideway Public Transportation

Systems. The ODOT SSO program had one item out of five to be addressed in regards to

assuring financial independence from the Ohio RTAs. A letter report was provided to

FTA on October 9, 2015 showing a new organization chart for the Office of Transit that

separates grant funding and oversight activities within the office. A second attachment

provided an explanation of independent budgets for the oversight activities. The third

attachment provided a conflict of interest policy statement added to the ODOT SSO

program standard to restrict RTAs from providing any funding to the SSOA.

CWP Section 2. Enforcement Authority. The ODOT SSO program had to respond to

issues for each of the four items in this section. A letter report was provided to FTA on

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September 8, 2015 with the updated Ohio Revised Code (ORC) in 5501.55 and 5501.56

that addressed state authority for enforcement of the safety program at the Ohio RTAs.

An additional deliverable was added by FTA to provide an enforcement escalation

procedure that was provided to FTA via letter report on April 11, 2016.

CWP Section 3. SSO Program Implementation Activities. This CWP section includes

three items, but is the most involved and requires evidence of improved and enhanced

SSO program activities. Five letter reports have been completed for the following

program activities.

1. Enhanced Management of Corrective Actions delivered on December 18, 2015

2. Enhanced Hazard Management delivered on December 18, 2015

3. Enhanced Triennial Review of Ohio RTAs delivered on December 18, 2015

4. Accident response and investigation simulation (at GCRTA) delivered on

December 31, 2015

5. Procedures for developing this annual program report delivered on April 11, 2016.

CWP Section 4. Staffing and Qualifications of SSO Personnel and Contractors.

ODOT provided another letter report on October 9, 2015 with a work breakdown

structure (WBS) for the new ODOT SSO program, level of effort planned, and addition

of the Safety Certification Training Plan for the ODOT SSO program staff. ODOT has

also added an additional staff member in 2015 and continues planning how to best

implement and support the ODOT SSO program with internal and contractor staff.

CWP Section 5. Grants and Waivers. All three items in this section were certified with

the approval of the ODOT SSO program CWP.

ODOT SSO Program Standard Update

The ODOT SSO program completely redesigned its Safety and Security Oversight Program

Standard (SSOPS) to accommodate adding a second RTA with the Cincinnati Streetcar project

and addressing the new SSO program requirements from MAP-21 and FTA. This update was

completed on November 16, 2015, and the new SSOPS is available on the ODOT website at:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/Transit/Documents/Programs/Rail%20Safety/SSO

PS.pdf.

FTA Safety Advisories

At the end of 2013, FTA started to issue Safety Advisories (SAs) to the SSO programs and their

RTAs to respond to recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

investigations of rail transit accidents. These SAs have required significant time and effort for

both GCRTA and the ODOT SSO program and are expected to continue as FTA determines

additional safety-critical issues that need to be investigated (SA 16-1 on stop signal violations

was released in April 2016).

SA 14-1. Right-of-Way (ROW) Worker Protection (RWP) – issued by letter from

FTA on December 31, 2013. The ODOT SSO program worked with GCRTA to develop

their response and a modified RWP Plan that focused on converting their RWP practice

to follow FRA requirements. This response was originally sent to FTA on May 16, 2014.

Later, GCRTA and the ODOT SSO program worked together to allow a modification to

the GCRTA RWP Plan to follow rail transit standards and best practices. This

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modification was completed in October 2015 and made to better address the needs of

GCRTA and controlling RWP costs while maintaining the safety intent. Additional minor

changes were made in March 2016 as the plan was fully implemented. GCRTA’s effort

to develop the RWP Plan was implemented through an internal audit from 2014, and the

corrective actions are being tracked to completion as part of the ODOT SSO program.

The ODOT SSO program has communicated with the Cincinnati Streetcar project on this

topic, and will follow up as the project gets closer to start-up and revenue service.

SA 14-2. Verification of Safe Rail Vehicle Stopping Distances at Terminal Stations –

issued by letter from FTA on June 12, 2014 in response to NTSB investigation of a

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rail accident at the Chicago O’Hare airport station. The

ODOT SSO program worked with GCRTA to complete the review and verification as

part of another 2014 internal audit to study the design and implementation of end of line

devices and braking distances for all rail lines. The internal audit report was provided to

FTA as required in July 2014. The corrective actions from this internal audit are being

tracked to completion as part of the ODOT SSO program. The ODOT SSO program has

communicated with the Cincinnati Streetcar project on this topic, and will follow up as

the project gets closer to start-up and revenue service.

SA 15-1. Audit All RFGPTS with Subway Tunnel Environments – issued by letter

from FTA on June 17, 2015 in response to NTSB investigation of a WMATA accident in

a tunnel near L’Enfant Plaza station. The ODOT SSO program worked with GCRTA to

complete the review and verification as part of a 2015 internal audit of the Airport Tunnel

on the Red Line. This station and tunnel had just been refurbished with completion in

2014. A letter response from the ODOT SSO program was provided to FTA on August 7,

2015. The internal audit was completed on August 18, 2015, and the corrective actions

are being tracked to completion as part of the ODOT SSO program. This safety advisory

did not apply to the Cincinnati Streetcar project, because there are no tunnels.

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA)

The ODOT SSO program provides safety and security oversight for the

GCRTA (www.riderta.com) heavy and light rail systems shown in Figure 1,

which include 37 miles of double track and catenary power system. Figure 1

also shows GCRTA’s two bus rapid transit (BRT) lines, but the bus

operations are not a part of the SSO program. Figure 2 shows one of the

light rail vehicles.

Communications with GCRTA occur daily with email or phone calls, usually with the Safety

Department. GCRTA provides monthly status reports for all investigations, internal audits, and

corrective actions. In addition, the ODOT SSO program and GCRTA have quarterly meetings at

GCRTA with executive and department management staff to go over status of corrective actions

and to share presentations about current safety or security activities related to the ODOT SSO

program. Quarterly meetings for 2015 occurred on February 3rd, April 29th, and July 29th.

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Figure 1. GCRTA Heavy and Light Rail Service Map

Figure 2. GCRTA Light Rail Vehicle

The October quarterly meeting was canceled due to the 2015 Triennial Review being completed

in September 2015, with the on-site activities completed during September 15-16 and September

21-25. The Triennial Review is conducted every three years by the ODOT SSO program in order

to determine if the RTA is complying with the ODOT SSO Program Standard and following its

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own safety and security documentation and methodologies. The draft Triennial report was

provided to GCRTA for comment on November 12, 2015 and a revised final report was provided

on December 7, 2015. Corrective actions were developed by GCRTA and discussed as part of

the January 2016 quarterly meeting. On February 5, 2016, the ODOT SSO program approved 32

corrective actions from GCRTA designed to further improve the safety and security programs in

response to the 2015 Triennial Review.

GCRTA and the ODOT SSO program have actively worked together completing investigations

and internal audits, using these as an opportunity to enhance safety and security capabilities

related to the rail systems. As shown in Figure 3, the number of reportable event investigations

over the last nine years have been an average of 15 per year. The ODOT SSO program has

started to require additional, less severe, events that were already being investigated to also be

included in the ODOT SSO program. Note the significant increase of ODOT reportable events

starting in 2012 is a part of the new requirements for the MAP-21 enhanced SSO program.

Figure 3. Number of FTA and ODOT Required Investigations by Year

The ODOT SSO program assigns GCRTA to complete these investigations, and the ODOT SSO

program adopts and approves all of the investigations and corrective action plans (CAPs). The

ODOT SSO program staff carefully and independently review the investigations and CAPs to

assess whether or not all of the root causes for the events were fully investigated and

appropriately mitigated/controlled. Any changes needed are discussed and negotiated between

the ODOT SSO program and GCRTA staff. Figure 4 shows all CAPs from investigations,

internal audits, and ODOT SSO program Triennial Reviews at GCRTA during the nine-year

period. All of these CAPs have been approved by and included in the ODOT SSO program. The

CAPs represent action items to improve safety or security on the rail system including training,

additional maintenance, or adding/improving new capabilities.

GCRTA’s internal audits are coordinated with the ODOT SSO program and GCRTA’s Safety

and Internal Audit Departments. Each year, approximately one-third of the system safety

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program plan (SSPP) elements and system security plan (SSP) sections are audited in order to

cover the entire safety and security programs over a three-year period. For each internal audit,

the ODOT SSO program is included for review of the planned procedures and checklists both for

information and in case the ODOT SSO program staff decide to participate in those internal

audits. Several meetings during the year are completed with Safety and the Internal Audit

Departments to accomplish this coordination and inclusion of the ODOT SSO program.

Figure 4. Number of Corrective Actions for Investigations and Audits by Year

The ODOT SSO program and GCRTA have been working together to ensure that safety

certification training is being planned and completed for both organizations. The ODOT SSO

program developed an FTA-required Safety Certification Training Plan (dated December 2015)

to manage the required safety training activities. In addition, the GCRTA Training Department

has been developing an awareness training agenda for the ODOT SSO program Technical

Training Plan. This training from GCRTA is planned as two two-day training activities to cover

all of the technical aspects of operating and maintaining the rail systems at GCRTA. This activity

is planned to be developed in early 2016, and then the training with the ODOT SSO program

staff will be completed as well, along with the regional/local Transportation Security

Administration (TSA) Surface Transportation Inspectors. In addition, the GCRTA Safety

Department staff have also been active in completing their required FTA Safety Certification

Training.

GCRTA Rail Safety Program Status. From the ODOT SSO program perspective, the GCRTA

rail system safety and security programs are being managed properly and all deadlines for annual

certification continue to be completed on time. The working relationship with GCRTA executive

management, department management, and staff continues to be excellent. GCRTA’s challenges

from a safety perspective continue to be properly managing aging infrastructure and rail vehicles,

as well as turnover of middle management and technical staff. GCRTA has been working to fully

complete their transit asset management activities for rail infrastructure and vehicles so that

priorities for technical projects and purchasing of materials can be more effectively prioritized,

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including from a safety perspective. GCRTA has also invested significantly into training and

capabilities for the technical staff in rail-related departments. These activities require a

tremendous amount of effort and discipline, and significant progress continues to be made.

Cincinnati Streetcar Interactions

The ODOT SSO program also provides safety and security

program oversight for the Cincinnati Streetcar project

(http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/streetcar/), which includes a

route of 3.6 miles of single track and catenary power system.

One of the modern streetcar vehicles is shown in Figure 5 and

the route map is shown in Figure 6. The route runs between the Banks through downtown up to

the Over the Rhine neighborhood. This is a joint project between the City of Cincinnati and the

Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA). Transdev started in August 2015 as the

operations and maintenance contractor to SORTA for the Cincinnati Streetcar, including

management and staff to operate and maintain the streetcar services. Figure 7 shows one of the

streetcar vehicles at the maintenance and operating facility (MOF).

Figure 5. Cincinnati Streetcar Vehicle

Communications with the project team occurs daily with email or phone calls. SORTA/City of

Cincinnati provide monthly status reports for the project that are required as part of FTA’s

project management oversight (PMO) activity. The ODOT SSO program and SORTA/City of

Cincinnati have recently started quarterly meetings (August 20th and November 20th) in

Cincinnati to go over status of the project, development of procedures, and development of

related safety and security program documents.

The ODOT SSO program staff monitor (usually by phone) the safety and security review

committee and the rail activation and integrated testing activities. The investigation procedure

and plan were formally approved by the ODOT SSO program on November 11, 2015 in order

for the project team to provide any needed investigations for the ODOT SSO program as testing

on the rail system has started. In addition, the ODOT SSO program staff participate with the

FTA Region V and PMO contractor monthly and quarterly meetings with the Cincinnati

Streetcar project team.

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The ODOT SSO program will participate in the Cincinnati Streetcar training and work together

to set up awareness training to address the technical training program for the streetcar operation.

A training session for reviewing investigation processes will be planned as part of one of the

event tabletops for the project testing and start-up phase. In addition, SORTA safety and security

staff and Transdev staff have worked towards completing their FTA Safety Certification

Training Program requirements.

Figure 6. Cincinnati Streetcar Route Map

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Cincinnati Streetcar Rail Safety Program Status. From the ODOT SSO program perspective,

the Cincinnati Streetcar project team and rail system safety and security programs are being

managed properly and all deadlines for developing documentation for the safety and security

programs are being met. The working relationship with the project team management and staff

continues to be excellent. The challenges ahead are completion of safety and security

certification for construction and acceptance of rail vehicles, as well as planned start-up of

revenue service on September 15, 2016.

Figure 7. Cincinnati Streetcar Maintenance and Operating Facility (MOF)

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ODOT SSO Program Plans for 2016

The 2016 calendar year is expected to be busy with planned (and already completed) activities

for the ODOT SSO program as follows:

FTA Office of Safety and Oversight (TSO) completed their Safety and Security

Readiness Review (SSRR) for the Cincinnati Streetcar project and the ODOT SSO

program in Cincinnati during January 12-14, 2016.

FTA TSO has completed a three-year review of the ODOT SSO program in Cleveland

during March 1-2, 2016.

The ODOT SSO program completed all of the defined CWP deliverables for FTA

certification in April 2016.

Required completion of Annual Reports and Certification from GCRTA by January 31st

and Approval from the ODOT SSO program has been completed. Required annual data

and information submission and annual certification by the ODOT SSO program to FTA

by March 31st has been completed.

Several FTA rulemakings are expected to be completed during 2016 and will require

significant work from the ODOT SSO program to implement the final requirements and

coordinate with the Ohio RTAs.

Quarterly meetings will continue, as scheduled.

o GCRTA – January, April, July, and October

o SORTA/City of Cincinnati – February, May, August, and November

Cincinnati Streetcar safety and security certification, testing, and start-up of revenue

service are to be completed by September 15, 2016. The ODOT SSO program is required

to be a part of the final decision-making for that start-up.

Cleveland is hosting several major events in 2016, including the Republican National

Convention in July 2016, with significant support by the GCRTA transit systems.

ODOT SSO program staff will continue to attend required FTA safety certification

training classes and to implement the technical training plans with both GCRTA and the

Cincinnati Streetcar project.

Both Ohio RTAs (GCRTA and SORTA) Safety and Security staff continue to work

towards completing FTA-required safety certification training.