[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 58 (Monday, March 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15811-15813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7416]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[FRA Emergency Order No. 17, Notice No. 3]


Owners of Railroad Tank Cars; Modification of Emergency Order 
Requiring Inspection and Repair of Stub Sill Tank Cars

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) of the United States 
Department of Transportation finds that Emergency Order No. 17, Notice 
No. 1 (57 FR 41799; September 11, 1992) and Notice No. 2 (58 FR 8647; 
February 16, 1993) should be modified. This notice will require owners 
of stub sill tank cars to comply with the Association of American 
Railroads' O&M Circular No. 1, Supplement No. 2 (CPC-1030) issued on 
August 10, 1994.
    Effective Date: This amendment is effective March 27, 1995.
    For Further Information Contact: Edward W. Pritchard, Chief, 
Hazardous Materials Division, Office of Safety Enforcement, Federal 
Railroad Administration, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 
20590, (202) 366-9252 or Thomas A. Phemister, Trial Attorney, Office of 
Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad Administration, 400 Seventh Street, 
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590, (202) 366-0635.

Authority

    Authority to enforce the Federal railroad safety laws, including 
laws pertaining to the transportation of hazardous materials by 
railroad, has [[Page 15812]] been delegated by the Secretary of 
Transportation to the Federal Railroad Administrator. 49 CFR 1.49. 
Railroads, shippers of hazardous materials, and owners of tank cars are 
subject to FRA's safety jurisdiction under the Federal railroad safety 
laws, 49 U.S.C. 20101 et seq., and the Federal hazardous materials 
transportation safety laws, 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. FRA is authorized to 
issue emergency orders where an unsafe condition or practice creates 
``an emergency situation involving a hazard of death or personal 
injury.'' 49 U.S.C. 20104. These orders may immediately impose 
``restrictions and prohibitions * * * that may be necessary to abate 
the situation.'' (Ibid.)

Background

    On September 3, 1992, FRA issued Emergency Order No. 17, Notice No. 
1 (57 FR 41799) requiring owners of stub sill tank cars to comply with 
the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Tank Car Stub Sill 
Inspection Program, and the AAR Tank Cars Stub Sill Inspection 
Procedure, placed in effect in the AAR's O&M Circular No. 1, issued to 
members and private car owners on July 17, 1992. Under EO17 and the O&M 
circular, owners of stub sill tank cars must inspect them and shall not 
return them to service until all defects have been repaired and the 
cars are in full compliance with Federal railroad safety regulations 
and the AAR Tank Car Manual. Inspection priorities were established 
based on characteristics discovered in other inspections and based on 
accumulated mileage.
    FRA received numerous questions regarding the implementation of EO 
17. FRA issued EO 17, Notice No. 2, on February 8, 1993, responding to 
those questions and clarifying its enforcement policy regarding the 
tank car stub sill inspection program. FRA's goal was to establish 
understanding and to facilitate compliance early in the program. 
Towards the end of the first year of the stub sill inspection program, 
FRA's monitoring efforts disclosed some irregularities in inspection 
data and a generalized lack of standardized inspection techniques and 
written procedures. These findings sparked investigations into shops 
performing the required inspections. From these investigations, it 
became apparent that the AAR's O&M Circular No. 1 needed to be revised 
to eliminate these early imperfections in the stub sill program.
    FRA believed that AAR could be instrumental in influencing tank car 
owners to develop written procedures for inspections and could also 
provide assistance if necessary. Accordingly, on February 14, 1994, FRA 
wrote AAR and asked that certain subgroups of tank cars be placed into 
an 18-month priority inspection program. Further, FRA requested tank 
car manufacturers and owners to develop written procedures for each 
design of stub sill tank car for distribution to repair facilities 
performing the required inspections. AAR agreed and ordered several 
subgroups of tank cars into an 18-month priority inspection program. In 
addition, on August 10, 1994, AAR issued a supplement to its original 
O&M Circular No. 1. Supplement No. 2 (to O&M Circular No. 1), copy 
attached as Appendix A, requests owners to develop written procedures 
that encompass: (1) Identifying structurally significant components and 
welds; (2) a means of access to these components and welds, including 
removal of the jacket, insulation, or thermal coating, if required; (3) 
inspection techniques to ensure the detection of damage; and (4) proper 
identification, measurement, and reporting of cracks by line item on 
the required inspection report form (AAR Form SS-2). Supplement No. 2 
also requests owners to forward a copy of the inspection procedures to 
the inspecting parties and to AAR.
    This notice amends Emergency Order No. 17 by incorporating O&M 
Circular No. 1, Supplement No. 2, thus making tank car owners who do 
not respond to the request to develop design-specific inspection 
procedures liable for civil penalties. This notice will also add a 
requirement that copies of the design-specific inspection procedures 
must be sent to FRA as well as to AAR. For now, FRA will not review and 
approve these procedures but will use the copies sent to it as 
information for its monitoring program. Naturally, FRA reserves the 
authority to review and approve design-specific inspection procedures 
if, in the judgment of the agency, experience with their implementation 
warrants such action.
    After spot-checking several repair facilities, FRA has discovered 
that, some 7 months after AAR's supplement was issued, shops and repair 
facilities still do not have design-specific procedures for conducting 
inspections under this emergency order. FRA cannot accept this lack of 
responsiveness to a program vital to transportation safety. 
Accordingly, this order will also require car owners to submit to AAR 
and to FRA their design-specific procedures within 60 days of the date 
of this order and will prohibit, as of the first anniversary of the 
AAR's Supplement No. 2 (August 10, 1995), any person from performing 
further inspections pursuant to this Emergency Order unless the owner 
has supplied the parties performing the inspection with an inspection 
procedure applicable to that specific design type.
    FRA is aware of some concern within the community of tank car 
owners that O&M Circular Letter No. 1, Supplement No. 2 could be read 
to require duplicate, and potentially contradictory, effort by owners 
to develop inspection plans and procedures. FRA does not find anything 
in AAR's supplement to justify this concern. On the contrary, FRA 
encourages owners of stub sill tank cars to cooperate with each other, 
share information about the designs and the inspection techniques 
necessary for each, and develop inspection procedures based on the 
broadest spectrum of knowledge possible for each unique stub sill 
design. As outlined in FRA's February 1994 letter to AAR, the agency 
agrees that the written procedures should include the following 
elements:
    <bullet> Identification of structurally significant components and 
welds;
    <bullet> Access means to these components and welds, including 
removal of jacket, insulation, or thermal coating, if required;
    <bullet> Inspection techniques to use to ensure the detection of 
damage; and,
    <bullet> Proper identification, measurement and reporting of cracks 
by line item on AAR Form SS-2.
    This notice makes no substantive changes in the manner of obtaining 
relief from Emergency Order No. 17 or in the penalties for violating 
it.

Finding and Order

    I find that the unsafe conditions causing an emergency situation 
involving a hazard of death or personal injury that led to the issuance 
of Emergency Order No. 17 still exist and, accordingly, pursuant to the 
authority in 49 U.S.C. 20104, delegated to me by the Secretary of 
Transportation (49 CFR 1.49), it is ordered:
    1. That, in addition to the requirements of Emergency Order No. 17, 
Notice No. 1, owners of stub sill tank cars shall also comply with the 
AAR Tank Car Stub Sill Inspection Program placed in effect in the 
Association of American Railroads' O&M Circular No. 1, Supplement No. 
2, issued to members and private car owners on August 10, 1994, a copy 
of which is attached hereto as Appendix A and incorporated herein by 
reference;
    2. That, in addition to furnishing copies of the procedures to AAR 
and to the inspecting parties, as required by Circular No. 1, 
Supplement No. 2, owners are required, within 60 days of the date this 
Notice was issued, to [[Page 15813]] furnish a copy of the procedures 
to FRA by sending it to the FRA Office of Safety Enforcement, Hazardous 
Materials Division, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590;
    3. That each owner of stub sill tank cars is responsible for 
distribution of the procedures to the parties performing the 
inspections and ensuring that the inspecting parties understand and 
follow the written procedures; and
    4. That, effective August 10, 1995, no person may inspect a tank 
car pursuant to this Emergency Order unless the owner has supplied the 
inspection point with an inspection procedure applicable to that 
specific design type.

Relief

    Tank car owners may obtain relief from this Emergency Order by 
inspecting the affected cars as required and repairing them as 
necessary.

Penalties

    Any violation of this order shall subject the person committing the 
violations to a civil penalty of up to $20,000. 49 U.S.C. 21301. FRA 
may, through the Attorney General, also seek injunctive relief to 
enforce this order. 49 U.S.C. 20112.

Notice to Affected Persons

    This Notice No. 3 will be published in the Federal Register and 
will be sent by mail or facsimile to the Association of American 
Railroads, The American Short Line Railroad Association, the Regional 
Railroads of America, the Railway Progress Institute, all members of 
the AAR Tank Car Committee, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and 
the American Petroleum Institute. These organizations are encouraged to 
make wide distribution of this modification of Emergency Order No. 17 
within their membership and to other known interested parties.

    Issued in Washington, D.C. on March 20, 1995.
Donald M. Itzkoff,
Deputy Administrator.

Appendix A--Association of American Railroads' O&M Circular No. 1, 
Supplement No. 2

    The text of the Association of American Railroads' O&M Circular No. 
1, Supplement No. 2 (CPC-1030), as issued on August 10, 1994, over the 
signature of Mr. J.J. Robinson, Senior Assistant Vice President, 
Operations and Maintenance Department, Casualty Prevention Division is 
as follows:

AAR O&M Circular No. 1; Supplement No. 2 Tank Car Stub Sill Inspection 
Program

    1. Audits of the inspections being performed at several tank car 
facilities have revealed the need for each tank car owner to develop 
written inspection procedures for each unique stub sill design 
represented in his or her fleet, to distribute the procedures to the 
parties performing the inspections, and to ensure that the inspecting 
parties fully understand and consistently follow the written 
procedures. These written procedures should include the following 
elements:
    <bullet> Identification of structurally significant components and 
welds;
    <bullet> Access means to these components and welds, including 
removal of jacket, insulation or thermal coating, if required;
    <bullet> Inspection techniques to use to ensure the detection of 
damage; and,
    <bullet> Proper identification, measurement and reporting of cracks 
by line item on AAR Form SS-2.
    In order to ensure the quality of the data and consistency of the 
inspection results, owners are requested to develop these procedures 
and to forward them to the inspecting parties as soon as possible. A 
copy of the procedures should also be filed with AAR, to the attention 
of the Manager - Freight & Tank Car Design; 50 F Street NW; Washington, 
DC 20001. Owners should contact the builders for assistance in the 
development of these procedures.
    2. The SILSPEC software used to report the results of stub sill 
inspections has been updated to include a more comprehensive ``look-
up'' of builders and stub sill design styles. A paper copy of the look-
up table and the referenced Figures is enclosed, as is a table of Stub 
Sill Design Style Templates, which defines weld locations that must and 
must not be reported for each design. If there is a need to report cars 
built to any of the designs that have been added to the table, a copy 
of the updated software may be obtained from Paul Kinnecom at 202/639-
2147 (FAX 202/639-2930).

    (Note: Because the AAR's O&M Circular No. 1, Supplement No. 2 
has been sent to all AAR members and to private car owners, FRA is 
not reproducing the inspection program's table and figures in the 
Federal Register.)

[FR Doc. 95-7416 Filed 3-24-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P