The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration last week issued a new railworthiness directive to owners of certain DOT-111 tank cars built between 2009 and 2015 that may have “substantial weld defects.”
The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is directing owners of certain Department of Transportation specification 111 (DOT-111) general purpose tank cars built between 2009 and 2015 to identify, inspect and repair potential defects.
FRA last week issued a new railworthiness directive to owners of DOT-111 tank cars built by American Railcar Industries, Inc. and ACF Industries, LLC during that timeframe that may have “substantial weld defects.”
The welding defects, which appear at the bottom of the tank car where two components allow for products to be offloaded, could affect the cars’ ability to retain its contents during travel, according to the directive. As such, the DOT-111s in question “may be in an unsafe operating condition and could result in the release of hazardous materials,” and continued use of the tank cars violates the requirements of Federal Hazardous Materials regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180), the administration said.
Regulators and industry advocates in the United States have pushed to retrofit or replace older DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars as they are thinner and more likely to puncture than the newer DOT-117 models. Trains carrying flammable liquid in those older tank cars are, as a result, at a higher risk of leaking and/or catching fire in the event of a derailment.
Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau in July moved up the the country’s deadline for phasing out the older, less reliable tank cars for crude-by-rail transport to Nov. 1, 2016. The deadline for DOT-111s to be removed from service entirely for all flammable liquids remains April 30, 2025.
FRA said it issued the latest directive to “ensure public safety, ensure compliance with the applicable Federal regulations governing the safe movement of hazardous materials by rail, and ensure the railworthiness of the tank cars.”
According to Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg, the directive requires owners to identify potentially affected tank cars in their fleet within 30 days and report any findings to the FRA; visually inspect cars to ensure there is no visible leak; and perform ultrasonic and surface inspections on identified cars to ensure no flaws exist that could result in the loss of tank integrity. If flaws are detected in the welds of the tank cars at any time during the inspection process, those cars must immediately be removed from service and repaired, Feinberg said in a recent DOT Fast Lane blog post.
“Tank cars with confirmed flaws that carry hazmat must be tested and repaired faster than cars that carry other products,” she added.
The good news, according to Feinberg, is that inspectors so far have found only a “small portion” of the tank cars manufactured by American Railcar and ACF between 2009 and 2015 to contain these flawed welds.
She said FRA was still in the process of determining what enforcement actions-if any-will be taken against the tank car manufacturers.
FRA directs owners to inspect, repair potentially defective tank cars
