I was reading a technical paper from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers that was published in the 1980s.
It mentioned that trains are to undergo a visual inspection every 500 miles (800km).
Does this still hold true today? Has the ranged between inspections changed any? And which specific parts are inspected on the train? (I’m assuming it is the hoses, couplings, and bearings?)
trains are inspected every time they depart thier initial terminal
quartely on locomotives
COT&S every three years on frieght cars
1000 mile inspections on pooled unit trains
Trains on the BNSF vary by the type of train that it is. Coal trains and most Inter modal trains are considered cycle trains and have to be inspected by 2000 miles unless they pick up or set out cars in route then a mechanical employee has to do another test at the next terminal. Other than that the train has to be inspected at the point it was built or every 1000 miles on all other trains. Cycle trains are trains that stay the same all the time, they never change unless something happens to a car in route, and has to be set out. The locomotives have to be inspected every calendar day. And have to have a FRA inspection every 92 days.
Keep in mind that any train that, for what ever reason, is “yarded” even to just be fueled, is gone over by that yards car department or mechanical department as a matter of course before departure, to look for bad order cars and potential hazards such as dragging equipment, bad order wheels, shifted loads or damaged cars.
The railcars you see today, although they may look pretty cruddy, are in fact in better shape than the fleet has been in years.
Major derailments due to a bad order car are very rare nowadays.
Ed
GCOR 6.29.1 . . . Employees must inspect passing trains.
So any railroad employee is required to do a visual inspecion of any train he/she encounters, and I do.
I recently reported sticking brakes to the yardmaster. That is one of the items to visually inspect.
Ed,
So, how often do you find dragging equipment, bad order wheels, shifted loads and damaged cars during these inspections?
Michael
Michael,
All the time…the number of railcars in the interchange fleet is staggering…
Most of what is found are what we call safety appliance defects…lose walkways, bent or missing grab irons or hand holds, manway covers left open on tank cars, open or leaking hopper/dump doors, box car doors not closed or secured correctly…nothing that would derail a train, but things that do pertain to the safety of the crew and railroaders in general.
Nothing like reaching for a grab iron or crossover hand hold at night and finding it missing or it comes off in your hand!
We do find wheel tread buildup, flat spots, sharp or worn wheel flanges, missing or worn brakes shoes, broken brake rigging, leaking tank cars, things that are a hazard to our health and yours, or could cause a derailment.
From the GCOR…
1.33 Inspection of Freight Cars
When personnel are not on duty primarily to inspect freight cars, each car placed in the train may be moved after it receives a safety inspection as follows:
Cars must be checked for:
Leaning
Sagging
Improper position on the truck
Objects hanging or dragging from the car or extending from the side
Insecurely attached doors
Broken or missing safe appliances
Contents leaking from placarded hazardous material car
Insecure coupling device
Overheated wheel or journal
Broken or cracked wheel
Brake that fails to release
Any apparent hazard that could cause an accident
Open top loads, including trailers and containers on flat cars, must be loaded safely.
If width or height approaches clearance restrictions, movement must be cleared with the proper authority.
A freight car with any defect that makes movement unsafe must be corrected or set out of the train
A freight car with three bad order tags indicating that the car is safe to move may be moved to the nearest car repair point. The conductor will remove on
printer running on high!
Thanx Ed!
I used to give my tractor-trailer the same thign everytime I moved also a walkaround and a check underneath it.
I was going to point out that long haul truckers have a similar inspection routine, whether mandated by law or common sense…when it’s your fanny riding the rig or railcar; you look it over pretty well!
Ed
Thanks Ed. That’s an amazing amount of inspection!
Michael
and furthermore… to amplify on GCOR 6.29.1 . . . ‘Employees must inspect passing trains’. : the theory is that that’s every employee, every time. You see a train is going to move past you, you are supposed to inspect it as best you can, depending on speed, where you are, and what you are doing. If it’s a real slow roll-by, you’re looking at a lot of stuff. If you’re on a siding waiting for it, and it’s going by at 60, you don’t see so much. But you still look. Some of the old heads get to be really good at it…
I routinely hear the local trainmaster give an inspection report by radio to through trains as they pass the yard office. “West side OK complete with the marker.”