[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13747-13748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04713]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Safety Advisory 2013-01; Passing Stop Signals Protecting Movable
Bridges
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of Safety Advisory.
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SUMMARY: FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2013-01 to remind track
[[Page 13748]]
owners, railroads, and their employees of the importance of ensuring
that rails are properly aligned and movable spans are secured before
permitting a train to pass a signal that is displaying a stop
indication and protecting a movable bridge. FRA is issuing this notice
in response to a recent train accident involving a derailment in which
there was an unsecured swing span that moved laterally during the
passage of a train. This notice recommends that track owners and
railroads: (1) Evaluate the design and construction of existing movable
bridges to determine if effective span locking is being provided; (2)
review current operating rules and procedures to ensure that these
instructions adequately protect movable bridges during the operation of
trains; and (3) ensure that employees authorized to determine whether
movable bridges are correctly aligned and secured are adequately
trained to perform these duties.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carlo M. Patrick, Staff Director, Rail
and Infrastructure Integrity Division, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-
6399; David R. Killingbeck, Chief Engineer--Structures, Rail and
Infrastructure Integrity Division, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-6251;
or Anna Nassif Winkle, Trial Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, FRA,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-
6166.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On November 30, 2012, a Consolidated Rail Corporation mixed freight
train with two locomotives and 82 freight cars, including 51 hazardous
materials tank cars, derailed seven cars while crossing a single-leaf
movable swing bridge. The derailed cars included loaded tank cars of
vinyl chloride and ethanol. One vinyl chloride tank car was breached,
resulting in the release of its contents into a waterway and the
atmosphere, as well as in the subsequent evacuation of approximately
600 nearby residents.
Due to the typically limited train traffic over the bridge, it was
normally left in an open position when not needed in order to allow
pleasure craft to pass. Upon arriving at the bridge, a train crew would
normally encounter a stop signal and the bridge in the fully-open
position, oriented approximately perpendicular to the track. As such,
once stopped at the signal, the train crew normally would request the
bridge to close using the key pad on the locomotive radio. Through the
use of a programmable logic controller, an automated sequence would
commence closing and seating the bridge and then moving the slide lock
rails into the locked position. Once the slide lock rails were fully
engaged, a signal to proceed would be displayed.
Following the derailment, the swinging end of the movable span was
found to be laterally displaced approximately three feet. Although
FRA's investigation of this accident is ongoing, and the probable
causes and contributing factors have not yet been established,
preliminary indications are that the movable span was not locked in
place and moved or rotated laterally during the passage of the train.
Unlike most swing bridges that possess end wedges that when driven,
prevent rotation of the span, the subject bridge was a rare, shear-pole
swing span that had neither end wedges nor span locks. The slide rails
that were part of the movable bridge rail joints provided the only
means of securing the span from rotating.
Recommended Action: In light of the above discussion, FRA
recommends that track owners and railroads:
1. Evaluate the design of existing movable bridges, especially
swing bridges, to determine if effective span locking, independent of
rail locking, is being provided as recommended in Chapter 15 (Steel
Structures) of the current American Railway Engineering and
Maintenance-of-Way Association Manual for Railway Engineering.
2. Evaluate operating rules and procedures that permit the
operation of trains past a stop signal protecting a movable bridge to
ensure their adequacy to prevent operation of trains should the bridge
not be properly aligned and secured.
3. Review the adequacy of all training given to employees
authorized to determine that a movable bridge is properly aligned and
locked to ensure that employees are capable of correctly determining
that the movable bridge is safe for train movements.
FRA encourages track owners and railroads to take actions that are
consistent with the preceding recommendations and to take other actions
to help ensure the safety of the Nation's railroads, their employees,
and the general public. FRA may modify this Safety Advisory 2013-01,
issue additional safety advisories, or take other appropriate actions
it deems necessary to ensure the highest level of safety on the
Nation's railroads, including pursuing other corrective measures under
its rail safety authority.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 22, 2013.
Jo Strang,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety/Chief Safety Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-04713 Filed 2-27-13; 8:45 am]
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