NPRM on loco crash standards issued

Railway Age, Dec, 2004

The Federal Railroad Administration is accepting comments on proposed new minimum crashworthiness standards for freight locomotives that will augment Association of American Railroads Specification S-580, adopted in 1989. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which affects 49 CFR Parts 229 and 238, will apply to newly manufactured and rebuilt locomotives. FRA's Railroad Safety Advisory Committee, a rulemaking body of representatives from the FRA, railroads, rail labor, locomotive manufacturers, suppliers, and others, recommended the proposed regulations.

FRA says the proposed standards are intended to maintain the structural integrity of a locomotive cab and help protect occupants in the event of a collision. Structural enhancements include integration of such features as stronger, full-height corner posts and collision posts, longitudinal roof structural members, short-hood structures, and under-frame improvements. The NPRM also mandates strengthening external fuel tanks, and equipping cab interiors with emergency egress and lighting and reconfigured controls.

AAR S-580 has served as the standard for crashworthiness design specs of new road freight locomotives and has provided basic enhancements to their crashworthiness, FRA notes. It's now time for an improvement. FRA also points out that in 1999 it issued regulations addressing passenger rail equipment safety, including "passenger-occupied locomotives" (cab control cars, powered MU cars). However, existing locomotive safety standards "do not address crashworthiness of conventional locomotives, which comprise the majority of locomotives in use today."

NPRM comments may be submitted to the docket for the proceeding (FRA 200417645) via the U.S. DOT online Docket Management System until Jan. 3, 2005.