Railway Locomotive Inspection and Safety Rules

Locomotives Design Requirements (Part II)

From: Transport Canada

10. General Design

10.1 The locomotive shall be designed and constructed to provide for safe operation and protection of the operating crews and property from accidents caused by functional failure of locomotives.

10.2 (a) Freight Locomotives

After January 1, 2015 new and remanufactured locomotives travelling at speeds exceeding 25 MPH (40 KPH) shall be designed and constructed as a minimum in accordance with the latest revision of the “Association of American Railroads Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices” (S-580) or to an equivalent standard to provide for safe operation and for the protection of operating crews, and property from accidents caused by functional failure of locomotives. Such standard shall be kept on file by the railway company and made available to the Department upon request. (Appendix II)

(b) Passenger Locomotives

After January 1, 2015 new and remanufactured locomotives travelling at speeds exceeding 25 MPH (40 KPH) shall be designed and constructed as a minimum in accordance with the latest revision of the “American Public Transit Association” (APTA), the Association of American Railroad Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices or equivalent standard.

10.3 Passageways and walkways shall be properly treated with anti-skid decking to provide secure footing.

10.4 A locomotive consist with open end platforms shall have a means of safe passage between them. There shall be a continuous barrier across the full width of the end of a locomotive or a continuous barrier between locomotives.

11. Audible Signals

All locomotives must be equipped with horns and bells that meet the specifications of these rules;

11.1 Passenger Locomotives

11.1.1 Passenger locomotives must be equipped or retrofitted with horns capable of producing a high and a low level sound, as per the following schedule:

  1. new locomotives ordered after January 1st, 2007 and delivered after January 1st 2008;
  2. locomotives in a controlling or lead position on trains in passenger service, traveling at speeds exceeding 105 km (65MPH), must be retrofitted before January 1st, 2012;
  3. this section does not apply to non-Canadian owned passenger locomotives, with incidental usage in Canada.

11.1.2 Controls

  1. The horn switch shall be located in such a manner as to allow for convenient access from the locomotive operator's normal working position.
  2. The control valve shall be located at or near the horn, to ensure a crisp sound and minimize the time delay response.

11.1.3 Location

The horn shall be mounted:

  • in the direction of travel
  • near the front of the roof
  • no further than 1.5 meter (5 feet) behind the rear of the cab
  • near the centerline of the locomotive with no obstructions or exhaust outlets ahead of or beside the horn.

11.1.4 Design Types

Locomotives shall be equipped with:

  1. one single five flute horn capable of producing two different sound levels-low level mode or high level mode; or
  2. two separate horns:
    1. one three or five flute horn that produces the low level mode; and
    2. one five flute horn that produces the high level mode;

11.1.5 Compliance

(a) When tested in an anechoic chamber meeting the requirements of ISO 3745 (18-22 deg C, 45%-65% rel. hum., 990-1025 millibars), the horn shall produce a minimum sound pressure level of 143 dB(A) at one meter from the front of the horn. The railway shall retain the horn manufacturers Certificate of Compliance and test records for not less than 10 years.

(b) On new and retrofitted locomotives, the railway must ensure that the horn design is certified and the installation is tested as per the requirements of these rules.

11.2 Freight Locomotives

All locomotives other than in designated service operating in a controlling position shall be equipped with a horn that is tuned in chords of not less than three tones meeting the following design criteria:

  1. a horn capable of producing a minimum sound level of 96 (db)A at any location on an arc of 30 meters (100 feet) radius subtended forward of the locomotive by angles 45 degrees to the left and to the right of the centerline of the track in the direction of travel;
  2. the control of the horn shall be located to allow for convenient operation from the locomotive operator's normal operating location.

11.3 Bell

All locomotives operating in a controlling position shall be equipped with a bell, or other device capable of producing an equivalent sound, meeting the following design criteria:

  1. must produce a minimum sound level of 60 dBA at any location on an arc of 15 meters (50 feet) radius subtended forward of the locomotive by angles 45 degrees to the left and to the right of the centreline of the track in the direction of travel;
  2. the control of the bell shall be located to allow for convenient operation from the locomotive operator's normal operating location.

12. Event Recorders

Controlling locomotives operated as trains or transfers on main track or subdivision track, shall be equipped with an event recorder meeting the following minimum design criteria : (Exception - Locomotives dedicated to a yard may move between yards for a distance no greater than 32 KM (20 miles) and at speed no greater than 25 KM/H (15 mph) without being equipped with an event recorder.)

  1. the Event Recorder Memory Module (ERMM) shall meet the survivability criteria established in the crashworthiness standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., modified for the locomotive environment;
  2. new certified crashworthy event recorder shall be installed at a location on a locomotive that provides for its maximum protection;
  3. the event recorder shall have suitable means to transfer the stored data to an external device for processing and analysis;
  4. the outer surface of the event recorder containing a certified crashworthy ERMM shall be coloured international orange;
  5. the locomotive event recorder shall retain the following data where applicable:
    1. train speed,
    2. selected direction of motion,
    3. time,
    4. distance,
    5. throttle position,
    6. applications and operations of the train automatic air brakes, including emergency applications. The system shall record, or provide a means of determining, that a brake application or release resulted from manipulation of brake controls at the position normally occupied by the locomotive engineer. In the case of brake application or release that is responsive to a command originating from or executed by an onboard computer (e.g. electronic braking system controller, locomotive electronic control system, or train control computer), the system shall record, or provide means of determining, the involvement of any such computer; (this includes brake pipe and brake cylinder pressure)
    7. applications and operations of independent brake,
    8. applications and operations of dynamic brake, if so equipped,
    9. cab signal aspect, if so equipped and in use,
    10. end-of-train device (EOT) device lost of communication front to rear and rear to front,
    11. electronic controlled pneumatic braking (ECP) message and loss of such message, if so equipped,
    12. EOT armed emergency brake command, emergency brake application,
    13. Indication of EOT valve failure,
    14. EOT brake pipe pressure (EOT and ECP devices),
    15. EOT marker light on/off,
    16. EOT low battery status,
    17. position of on/off switch for headlights on lead locomotive,
    18. position of on/off switch for auxiliary lights on lead locomotive,
    19. horn control handle activation, high and low signal
    20. locomotive number,
    21. locomotive automatic brake valve cut in,
    22. locomotive position in consist, (lead or trail)
    23. tractive effort,
    24. cruise control on or off, if so equipped and in use,
    25. safety-critical train control data routed to the engineer's display with which the engineer is required to comply, specifically including text messages conveying mandatory directives, and maximum authorized speed,
    26. reset safety control (RSC).

12.1 Implementation Period

  1. all locomotives, built prior to January 1, 2007 shall be equipped with an event recorder designed with a solid state memory module and shall record as a minimum the following data elements:
    • time,
    • distance,
    • speed,
    • brake pipe pressure,
    • throttle position,
    • emergency brake application,
    • independent brake cylinder pressure,
    • horn signal and where applicable the reset safety control function;
  2. all new locomotives built after Jan. 1, 2007 and delivered after January 1, 2008 shall be equipped with an event recorder designed with a "Certified Crashworthy" ERMM that records all data elements contained in 12(e);
  3. effective January 1, 2010, should an event recorder be replaced on a locomotive built prior to January 1, 2008, the event recorder shall be replaced by an event recorder with a hardened memory module or by an event recorder with a certified crashworthy ERMM (event recorder memory module) recording as a minimum the same number of data elements as the recorder replaced.

12.2 Maintenance

  1. event recorder and ERMM shall be inspected and tested on an annual basis;
  2. test results shall be maintained for one year by the railway and made available to a Railway Safety Inspector upon request.
  3. at safety inspection locations during safety inspections a download of the date, time and locomotive number must be performed upon request of a Railway Safety Inspector, to insure event recorder operation and accuracy.

12.3 Preservation of Data

  1. under normal operation, data shall be recorded and retained for a period of forty eight (48) hours.
  2. when a locomotive is involved in an accident or incident the railway company involved must preserve the event recorder data for a period of ninety (90) days, when advised by TSB that an investigation will take place.

13. Safety Control Equipment

13.1 A controlling locomotive must be equipped with a safety control system which shall, as a minimum, initiate a full service brake application and remove all tractive effort in the event that the person operating the locomotive becomes inattentive or incapacitated.

13.2 A controlling locomotive equipped with a safety control system with roll-away protection must:

  1. be wired such that the safety control system power source is fed through the battery knife switch or circuit breaker;
  2. commence a safety control system warning timing cycle and subsequently initiate a penalty brake application of the train air brakes within no more than 45 seconds should any of the following occur:
    1. power is interrupted to the safety control system;
    2. locomotive brake cylinder pressure is less than;
      1. 15 psi for locomotives designed with up to 27 psi maximum brake cylinder pressure; or
      2. 25 psi for all other locomotives.
    3. speed is detected (at the lowest measurable speed that the system is designed to detect in order to initiate a penalty brake application) which must not exceed 1 mph;
  3. As of January 1, 2023, not stop the warning timing cycle following the first activation, due to the locomotive slowing below the activation speed or speed no longer being detected. This requirement applies to new locomotives built or modernized on or after March 31, 2020. Modernized means locomotives that have had their safety control systems upgraded to current technology comparable to new locomotives built on or after March 31, 2020. By December 31, 2035, any locomotive equipped with a safety control system with roll-away protection must comply with this requirement.
  4. have clear labelling in the cab of the locomotive identifying that the locomotive is equipped with roll-away protection;
  5. be inspected and tested on an annual basis or after any modification or software change to the safety control system or air brake system to ensure that the system functions as specified in 13.2 b) and c).

13.3 A locomotive equipped with roll-away protection that is not part of the safety control system must, at a minimum, meet the requirements of 13.2.

For the purposes of applying section 13.2 above, the safety control system is the roll-away protection system.

14. Safety Appliances

14.1 Safety appliances on locomotives shall be in compliance with General Order No. 0 10, "Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards".

15. Spark Arresting Devices

15.1 Locomotives shall be equipped with a spark arresting device or a turbo-charger.

16. Illuminating Devices

16.1 Locomotives operating in a leading position shall be equipped with headlight(s) meeting the following design criteria:

  1. must be equipped with a minimum of one headlight that produces at least 200,000 candela;
    1. headlight(s) on locomotives other than in designated service must be aligned to centreline in the horizontal plane and depressed in the vertical plane to strike the rail at 244 metres (800 feet) ahead of the locomotive in the direction of travel;
    2. headlight(s) on designated or yard service locomotives must be aligned to centreline in the horizontal plane and depressed in the vertical plane to strike the rail at 91.5 metres (300 feet) ahead of the locomotive in the direction of travel;
  3. headlight(s) must be provided with a dimming device that reduces normal operating voltage in nominally 50%. The control of such device must be located to allow for convenient operation from the locomotive operator's normal operating location;
  4. locomotives must be equipped with a rear headlight or have an illuminating device to provide for a safe switching operation.

16.2 Leading locomotives, other than in designated and/or yard service, must be equipped, in the direction of travel, with ditch lights or a suitable alternative that is filed with the Department meeting the following design criteria:

  1. must be equipped with two ditch lights in the direction of travel, each of which produces at least 200,000 candela;
    1. ditch lights must be mounted at least 91.5 cm (36 inches) above the top of rail. They shall be spaced a minimum of 91.5 cm (36 inches) apart, unless the vertical distance between the headlight and the ditch light center lines is less than 152.5 cm (60 inches), in which case the ditch lights must be spaced at least 152.5 cm (60 inches) apart;
    2. diesel multiple units, electric multiple units and control cab cars are exempted from the mounting height requirement in paragraph [(b)i] where such placement would compromise the integrity of the car body or be otherwise impracticable. In such cases ditch lights must be mounted at least 61 cm (24 inches) above the top of rail;
  3. ditch lights shall be aligned in the horizontal plane to cross the locomotive centreline 122 metres (400 feet) ahead of the locomotive and depressed in the vertical plane to strike the rail at 244 metres (800 feet) in the direction of travel.

16.3 Locomotives operating in a controlling position must be equipped with means of illuminating the control instruments, meters and gauges to enable the locomotive operator to make accurate readings from the normal operating location without interfering with the operator's vision of track and signals.

17. Safety Glazing

17.1 Locomotives, other than in designated service, must be equipped with certified safety glazing material on all windows of the operating and/or occupied cabs.

18. Fail Safe Circuits and Systems

18.1 Any component of electrical or mechanical systems, vital to the safety of locomotive occupants or the general public, shall in the case of failure retain the locomotive in a safe operating condition.

19. Fuel Tanks

19.1 After January 1, 2015 fuel tanks, on new and remanufactured locomotives travelling at speeds exceeding 25 MPH (40 KPH) purchased subsequent to the approval of this rule, are to be of high impact resistant design which meet or exceed current Association of American Railroads Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices (S-5506).

19.2 Fuel tanks shall be provided with suitable liquid level gauges, so located that the fuel level in the tanks can be determined when the tanks are being filled. Gauges must be protected against accidental breakage where loss of fuel would be incurred.

20. Wheels and Axles

20.1 Traction motors support bearing, on new locomotives purchased subsequent to the approval of this rule, are to be of the roller bearing type.

Report a problem with this page

Date modified: