(a) Purpose. The purpose of this subpart is to help protect locomotive cab occupants in the event that a locomotive collides with another locomotive or piece of on-track equipment, a shifted load on a freight car on an adjacent parallel track, or a highway vehicle at a highway-rail grade crossing.

(b) This subpart prescribes minimum crashworthiness standards for locomotives. It also establishes the requirements for obtaining FRA approval of: new locomotive crashworthiness design standards; changes to FRA-approved locomotive crashworthiness design standards; and alternative locomotive crashworthiness designs.