New rule strengthens railroad bridge safety programs, oversight
Written by jrood
Regional Transportation District Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo announced a Final Rule requiring railroad track owners to adopt and follow specific procedures to protect the safety of their bridges, and to strengthen federal oversight of railroad bridge maintenance programs. This rule is a requirement under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
"This Final Rule will help
ensure the 100,000 railroad bridges in the United States are maintained and inspected
to the standards accepted by sound engineering practices," said Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood. "The structural integrity of bridges that carry railroad
tracks is vitally important to the safety of railroad employees and to the
public."
The Final Rule requires
track owners to implement bridge management programs that include at least
annual inspections of railroad bridges; know the safe capacity load of bridges;
and, conduct special inspections if the weather or other conditions warrant
such inspections.
In addition, it requires an
inventory of all railroad bridges, the audit of the bridge management programs
and inspections by the FRA; it also requires railroads to maintain the design
documents of each bridge and to document all repairs, modifications, and
inspections of each bridge subject to FRA review. Finally, the Final Rule
allows FRA to levy fines of up to $100,000.
"During the past five
decades, not one fatality has been caused by the structural failure of a
railroad bridge, and there have been just nine injuries since 1982," said FRA
Administrator Szabo. "Most of the older bridges in the U.S. were designed to
carry loads much heavier than the trains of today, but we believe this Final
Rule will institutionalize best engineering and inspection practices for all railroad
bridges and give the FRA greater enforcement power in order to continue this
record of excellence."
The move to
institutionalize engineering and inspection best practices took hold in the
industry in 1995, but took a large step in January, 2009, when FRA published an
amendment to its bridge policy – since adopted by the industry – to include the
Essential Elements of Railroad Bridge Management Programs. The Essential
Elements are included in the Final Rule in accordance with the Rail Safety
Improvement Act and provide railroad track owners with a uniform, comprehensive
set of components for inclusion in their bridge management programs. With this
information, a track owner may develop a single, comprehensive set of instructions,
information and data as guidance for his or her employees who are responsible
for the management, inspection, maintenance, and safety of railroad bridges.
The Final Rule is available
at: http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/bridgefinalsafetyrule2010.pdf
