Federal Railroad Administration March 14, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2013-02 to alert railroads and other industry members about low-speed, wheel-climb derailments of certain passenger equipment designs having ``stiff'' suspension systems. These derailments have occurred when such equipment was negotiating track with a high degree of curvature and crosslevel variations (commonly referred to as ``track warp'') that were still within the limits set forth in FRA's Track Safety Standards. The findings from the derailment investigations conducted by FRA and the respective railroads highlight the need to ensure that passenger equipment suspension systems are suitable for more-demanding track conditions found in low-speed operating environments. To avoid similar low-speed, wheel-climb derailments, this notice recommends that railroads and other industry members evaluate the trackworthiness of certain passenger equipment to determine whether the suspension systems meet truck-equalization industry standards, prevent wheel climb, and control static wheel-load distribution under the conditions and within the limits described in the notice; and take appropriate action to address the derailment tendency, if any, of the evaluated equipment. In order to minimize the risk of suspension spring failure, this notice also recommends that railroads and other industry members assessing the fatigue life of suspension springs and their corresponding maintenance intervals use a fatigue-evaluation load equal to the equipment's full- capacity loading conditions.