Railway Freight Car Inspection & Safety Rules

Part I – General

From: Transport Canada

Part I – General

  1. 1. Short Title
  2. 2. Scope
  3. 3. Definitions
  4. 4. Safety Inspections
  5. 5. Pre-Departure Inspection
  6. 6. Certification And Qualification Of Employees
  7. 7. Additional Requirements For Dangerous Goods Cars
  8. 8. Corrective Action Reporting

Part I – General

1. Short Title

1.1 For ease of references, 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” means a freight car that has been identified with a defect;

3.2 “bad order card” or “home shop card” means a railway company form that may be affixed to a freight car to indicate maintenance requirements and/or a defect identified during a safety inspection;

3.3 “bad order information system” means any method a railway company records, controls and protects the movement of a freight car with a defect;

3.4 “block of cars” means one (1) or more cars that have received a safety inspection or a pre-departure inspection as a solid coupled block for which an inspection record is available;

3.5 “break” or “broken” means a fracture resulting in complete separation into parts;

3.6 “captive service” means an operation where freight cars are assigned exclusively to transportation between specified points;

3.7 “certified car inspector” means a person who is trained, qualified and certified to perform safety inspections of freight cars in accordance with subsection 4.1 of these Rules;

3.8 “cracked” means fractured without complete separation into parts;

3.9 “defect” means any item that is defective on a freight car as indicated by “safety defect” of these Rules and Railway Freight and Passenger Train Brake Inspection and Safety Rules;

3.10 “Department” means the Department of Transport (commonly referred to as Transport Canada);

3.11 “freight car” means a car designed to carry freight on rail and includes a caboose and a service equipment car;

3.12 “in service” means all freight cars except those that are:

  1. in “bad order” status;
  2. in “home shop for repair” status as outlined in subsection 4.8 of these Rules;
  3. in a repair shop or on a repair track; or
  4. on a storage track and are empty;

3.13 “interchange” means the transfer of freight cars between railway companies;

3.14 “person in charge” means a person trained, qualified and certified in accordance with subsection 6.1 of these Rules and appointed by a railway company to ensure the safe conduct of an operation or of the work of employees;

3.15 “qualified person” means a person who because of his/her knowledge, training and experience is qualified to perform a pre-departure inspection in accordance with subsection 5.1 of these Rules;

3.16 “railway company” means a railway or railway company subject to the Railway Safety Act;

3.17 “railway safety inspector” means a Department of Transport inspector designated pursuant to section 27 of the Railway Safety Act;

3.18 “railway schedule” means an electronic or paper record that indicates the type of inspection, brake test and operational activity performed by a railway and the location where the activity is performed;

3.19 “safety defect” means any item that is defective on a freight car as prescribed by Part II of these Rules and General Order No. 0-10, “Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards”, or the latest edition of AAR Safety Standard S-2044 “Safety Appliance Requirements for Freight Cars” of the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices;

3.20 “safety inspection” means an examination of:

  1. a stationary freight car by a certified car inspector; or
  2. a stationary or moving freight car, by other technology, as adopted under subsection 18.2; or
  3. a combination of both

to verify that it may be moved safely in a train and to identify those safety defects prescribed in Part II of these Rules and General Order No. 0-10, “Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards”, or the latest edition of AAR Safety Standard S-2044 “Safety Appliance Requirements for Freight Cars” of the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices;

3.21 “safety inspection location” means a location designated by a railway company where safety inspections are performed;

3.22 “safety inspection record” means a record which attests that a safety inspection was performed;

3.23 “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. Safety Inspections

4.1 Subject to sections 20 and 21, 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. 0-10, “Regulations Respecting Railway Safety Appliance Standards”, or the latest edition of AAR Safety Standard S-2044 “Safety Appliance Requirements for Freight Cars” of the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices.

4.2 Safety inspections shall be performed by certified car inspector(s) at safety inspection locations

  1. where trains are made up;
  2. on cars added to trains;
  3. where cars are interchanged.

Such inspections may occur before or after a car is placed in a train at that location.

4.3 All freight cars that have previously received an inspection under subsection 5.1 of these Rules shall receive a safety inspection by a certified car inspector at the safety inspection location designated for that train by the railway company in the direction of travel.

4.4 A safety inspection is not required on blocks of cars that have previously received a safety inspection, in the direction of travel, for which the inspection status information is available.

4.5 A safety inspection is not required at an interchange point and/or when entering Canada provided there are records that indicate that a Safety Inspection, as per these Rules or an inspection by qualified mechanical personnel in the United States, was performed.

4.6 A freight car identified with a safety defect at other than a safety inspection location may be moved to another location for repair, in accordance with company procedures, including placing a loaded car for unloading when authorized by a person in charge, who shall ensure that:

  1. the car is safe to move;
  2. a means to protect the car’s safe movement is implemented, including identifying for the employees involved the nature of the defect(s) and the movement restrictions, if any;
  3. an empty car shall not be loaded until repaired; and
  4. the appropriate records will be retained for a period of ninety (90) days.

4.7 A car may also be moved from a safety inspection location to another location when authorized by a person in charge provided the conditions of item 4.6 (a), (b), (c), (d) are adhered to.

4.8 A freight car with defects shall be controlled and protected by the use of a bad order information system, and/or by the use of a bad order or home shop card.

4.9 A railway company shall maintain a safety inspection record for the cars it places in service at each safety inspection location. This information shall be retained for ninety (90) days and will be made available to a Railway Safety Inspector upon request.

5. Pre-Departure Inspection

5.1 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 of these Rules.

5.2 Pre-departure inspections shall be performed on both sides of equipment by:

  1. a standing inspection on both sides; or
  2. a standing inspection on one side and a roll by inspection, not exceeding 8.2 km. (5MPH) on the other side.

5.3 A pre-departure inspection under 5.1 is not required on blocks of cars:

  1. lifted enroute that have previously received a safety inspection in the direction of travel for which the inspection status information is received (maximum two blocks); or
  2. that have previously received a pre-departure inspection at that location for which inspection information is received.

5.4 The results of the pre-departure inspection performed by other than the lifting train crew shall be retained for a period of thirty (30) days.

5.5 All noted hazardous conditions shall be reported for correction in accordance with company procedures.

6. Certification and Qualification of Employees

6.1 A railway company shall ensure that its certified car inspectors are trained, and qualified to perform safety inspections of freight cars in compliance with these Rules.Certified car inspectors must demonstrate to a railway company, by means of oral or written examinations and on-the-job performance, a knowledge and ability to perform safety inspections of railway freight cars.

6.2 A railway company shall ensure that its qualified persons are trained and qualified to perform pre-departure inspections of freight cars in compliance with these Rules.

6.3 A railway company shall file with the Department a full description of the training program, criteria and all amendments used for:

  1. certifying those employees performing safety inspections in accordance with subsection 4.1 of these Rules; and
  2. qualifying those employees performing inspections in accordance with subsection 5.1 of these Rules.

6.4 A railway company shall maintain a record of all their certified car inspectors. This record shall be made available to a Railway Safety Inspector upon request.

6.5 Certified car inspectors shall be re-certified if they have not been performing the duties prescribed in these Rules within the past three (3) years.

7. Additional Requirements for Dangerous Goods Cars

7.1 Additional inspections of cars carrying goods subject to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, latest revision, are required as follows:

  1. tank cars destined for loading with a dangerous good or other cars destined for loading of explosives shall be given a safety inspection at the nearest safety inspection location in the direction of travel prior to being placed for loading;
  2. freight cars loaded with a dangerous good shall be given an inspection by employees of the receiving railway, at the point of loading, for those conditions listed in Appendix 1 of these Rules.

8. Corrective Action Reporting

8.1 Every railway company shall respond in writing or by acceptable electronic means, within fourteen (14) days, to the Department’s Regional Office concerned, on the corrective action taken to correct non-compliance reported by a Railway Safety Inspector.The railway company’s response shall include the corrective action taken, the location and date, and where applicable, the car reporting mark and car number.

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