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Table of ContentsPART I - GENERAL 1. Short Title PART II - FREIGHT CAR COMPONENTS 9. Wheels PART III - EXCLUSION AND EXCEPTIONS TO THE APPLICATION OF THESE RULES APPENDIX Predeparture Inspection Procedure by Other Than a Qualified Car Inspector PART 1 - GENERAL1. SHORT TITLE For ease of reference, these rules may be referred to as the "Freight Car Safety Rules". 2. SCOPE 2.1 These rules prescribe the minimum safety standards for freight cars operated by railway companies subject to the jurisdiction of Transport Canada pursuant to the Railway Safety Act. 3. DEFINITIONS In these Rules: 3.1 "bad order card" or "home shop card" means a railway company form which is affixed to a freight car to indicate maintenance requirements, but upon which safety defects identified during a safety inspection may be recorded; 3.2 "bad order information system" means any method, computerized or otherwise, by which a railway company can control and protect the movement of a car with defects without the use of a bad order or home shop card; 3.3 "break" means a fracture resulting in complete separation into parts. The term "break" and "broken" are used interchangeably in these rules; 3.4 "captured service car" means a freight car assigned exclusively to transportation between specified points on one railway company; 3.5 "certificate" means a wallet size card which identifies the employee and the task(s) for which such employee is qualified; 3.6 "certified car inspector" means a person who is trained and qualified to perform safety inspections of freight cars pursuant to Section 5.1; 3.7 "cracked" means fractured without complete separation into parts; 3.8 "Department" means Department of Transport, Surface Group; 3.9 "freight car" means a car designed to carry freight on rail and includes a caboose and a service equipment car; 3.10 "in service" means all freight cars except those which are:
3.11 "person in charge" means a person qualified in accordance with Section 5.1, appointed by a railway company to ensure the safe conduct of an operation or of the work of employees; 3.12 "qualified person" means, in respect of a specified duty, a person who, because of his/her knowledge, training and experience is qualified to perform that duty safely and properly, in accordance with Section 6.2; 3.13 "railway company" means a railway company subject to these rules; 3.14 "railway safety inspector" means a Department of Transport inspector appointed pursuant to Section 27 of the Railway Safety Act; 3.15 "safety defect" means any item that is defective on a freight car as prescribed by Part II of these Rules and General Order No. O-10, "Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards"; 3.16 "safety inspection" means an examination of a freight car while stationary by a certified car inspector or a person in charge as defined herein, to verify that it may be moved safely in a train, and to identify those defects listed in Part II of these Rules and General Order No. O-10, "Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards", which may inhibit such movement and require correction; 3.17 "safety inspection location" means a location designated by a railway company where certified car inspectors perform safety inspections; 3.18 "safety inspection record" means a record in hard copy form or otherwise including a computer record which attests that a safety inspection as defined herein was performed; 3.19 "service equipment car" means rolling stock used to house employees at work sites, a material car used for transporting railway maintenance-of-way equipment or for railway company purposes other than revenue service; 4. APPLICATION OF SAFETY INSPECTIONS 4.1 Subject to Part III of these rules, a railway company shall ensure the freight cars it places or continues in service are free from all safety defects described in Part II of these Rules, and that such cars comply with General Order No. O-10, "Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards". 4.2 A railway car identified with safety defects may be moved to another location for repair including placing a loaded car for unloading, when authorized by a person in charge, who will ensure that:
4.3 The movement of a car with safety defects shall be controlled and protected by the use of a bad order information system, or by the use of a bad order or home shop card. 5. QUALIFICATION OF CAR INSPECTORS 5.1 A railway company shall ensure that its car inspectors are trained and qualified to perform safety inspections of freight cars in compliance with these Rules. Car inspectors must demonstrate to a railway company by means of oral or written examinations and on-the-job performance a knowledge and ability concerning safety inspection of railway freight cars. Car inspectors shall be issued a certificate attesting to the employee's qualifications. 5.2 A railway company shall file with the Department a full description of the training program and criteria used for:
5.3 A railway company shall maintain a record of all employees who have qualified as certified car inspectors. This record shall be made available to a railway safety inspector upon request. 5.4 The certificate attesting to the employee's qualifications shall be made available to a railway safety inspector upon request. 6. SAFETY INSPECTION LOCATIONS 6.1 Safety inspections shall be performed at locations where trains are made up, on cars added to trains, or when interchanged. Such inspections may occur before or after a car is placed in a train at that location. 6.2 At locations where a certified car inspector is not on duty for purposes of inspecting freight cars, a pre-departure inspection of the train or the cars added shall be performed by a qualified person, as a minimum, for those conditions listed in Appendix 1. Thereafter, a safety inspection will be performed by a certified car inspector at the first safety inspection location designated for that train by the railway company in the direction of travel. 6.3 A railway company shall file with the Department a list of its safety inspection locations and railway schedules, to comply with the requirements of Sections 6.1 and 6.2. Any changes to the list of safety inspection locations shall be filed by the railway company with the Department 60 days prior to implementing such changes. 6.4 A railway company shall maintain a safety inspection record for the cars it places in service at each safety inspection location. This information will be retained for 90 days and will be made available to a railway safety inspector upon request. 7. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DANGEROUS GOODS CARS 7.1 Additional inspections of cars carrying goods subject to the "Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992" are required as follows:
8. RAILWAY REPORTING RESPONSIBILITY 8.1 Every railway company shall reply in writing or by acceptable electronic means, within fourteen days, to the Department's regional office concerned, on the corrective action taken to correct a violation/defect reported by a railway safety inspector. The reply, from an appropriate railway officer, shall also include the freight car initials and number and the date and location of the corrective action taken. PART II - FREIGHT CAR COMPONENTSPart II contains those safety defects which, when present, prohibit a railway company from placing or continuing a freight car in service. 9. WHEELS 9.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if:
10. AXLES 10.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if:
11. ROLLER BEARINGS 11.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if:
12. ROLLER BEARING ADAPTERS 12.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if the car has a roller bearing adapter that is missing, cracked, broken, out of place or the wrong size. 13. PLAIN BEARINGS 13.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if: (a) the journal bearing lubrication system has any of the following conditions:
(b) a journal bearing:
(c) a journal wedge is missing, broken, out of place, or the wrong size. 14. TRUCKS 14.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if: (a) a side frame or bolster:
(b) a truck is equipped with an ineffective damping mechanism as indicated by:
(c) the truck side bearings:
(d) there is interference between the truck bolster and the centre plate, or the body bolster and the truck side frame, which prevents proper truck rotation; (e) a brake beam support is worn to the extent that it does not support the brake beam; or (f) a truck is designed with a spring plank, but the spring plank is missing, broken, bent to the extent that it no longer performs its design function or incorrectly installed. 15. CAR BODIES 15.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if: (a) any portion of the freight car body, truck or their appurtenances (except wheels) has less than 2-1/2 inches (63.5 mm) clearance from the top of the rail; (b) the car centre sill is:
(c) a tank car stub sill:
(d) a side sill is cracked more than 6 inches (152.40 mm) when the car is not equipped with a full centre sill; (e) the car has a broken, cross bearer or body bolster; (f) the car has a coupler carrier that is:
(g) the car body has been improperly positioned on the truck; (h) it has a centre plate that:
(i) the car is a box car which has:
(j) the car is a loaded flat car with lading restraining devices worn or damaged to the extent that these devices will not restrain the load; (k) an object extends from the side of a car body except by design; (l) a car is not loaded in accordance with the prevailing "AAR General Rules Governing the Loading of Commodities On Open Top Cars", or a circular of the Railway Association of Canada; or (m) the car has any object on its floor which is not properly secured and could fall off. 16. COUPLERS 16.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if:
17. DRAFT ARRANGEMENTS 17.1 A railway company may not place or continue a car in service if:
PART III - EXCLUSIONS AND EXCEPTIONS TO APPLICATION OF THESE RULES18. EXCLUSIONS 18.1 These rules do not apply to the following: (a) freight cars operated solely on a track inside an industrial or other non-railway installation; (b) cars which are destined for
provided that the Railway ensures safe movement of the cars. 19. EXCEPTIONS 19.1 Except for General Order No. O-10, "Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards", these rules do not apply to railway company service equipment cars, including those which are self-propelled, where not moving as part of a revenue train, provided "RSE" is stencilled or otherwise displayed on each side of each car in clearly legible letters. 19.2 Section 6.1 of these Rules does not apply to freight cars used exclusively in captured service if a railway company:
APPENDIX 1PREDEPARTURE INSPECTION PROCEDURE BY OTHER THAN A QUALIFIED CAR INSPECTOR At each location where a freight car is placed in a train and a certified car inspector is not on duty for the purpose of inspecting freight cars, the freight car shall, as a minimum requirement, be inspected for these hazardous conditions:
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