49 C.F.R. Subpart B—Inspections and Tests
Title 49 - Transportation
(a) Except for MU locomotives, each locomotive in use shall be inspected at least once during each calendar day. A written report of the inspection shall be made. This report shall contain the name of the carrier; the initials and number of the locomotive; the place, date and time of the inspection; a description of the non-complying conditions disclosed by the inspection; and the signature of the employee making the inspection. Except as provided in §§229.9, 229.137, and 229.139, any conditions that constitute non-compliance with any requirement of this part shall be repaired before the locomotive is used. Except with respect to conditions that do not comply with §229.137 or §229.139, a notation shall be made on the report indicating the nature of the repairs that have been made. Repairs made for conditions that do not comply with §229.137 or §229.139 may be noted on the report, or in electronic form. The person making the repairs shall sign the report. The report shall be filed and retained for at least 92 days in the office of the carrier at the terminal at which the locomotive is cared for. A record shall be maintained on each locomotive showing the place, date and time of the previous inspection. (b) Each MU locomotive in use shall be inspected at least once during each calendar day and a written report of the inspection shall be made. This report may be part of a single master report covering an entire group of MU's. If any non-complying conditions are found, a separate, individual report shall be made containing the name of the carrier; the initials and number of the locomotive; the place, date, and time of the inspection; the non-complying conditions found; and the signature of the inspector. Except as provided in §§229.9, 229.137, and 229.139, any conditions that constitute non-compliance with any requirement of this part shall be repaired before the locomotive is used. Except with respect to conditions that do not comply with §229.137 or §229.139, a notation shall be made on the report indicating the nature of the repairs that have been made. Repairs made for conditions that do not comply with §229.137 or §229.139 may be noted on the report, or in electronic form. A notation shall be made on the report indicating the nature of the repairs that have been made. The person making the repairs shall sign the report. The report shall be filed in the office of the carrier at the place where the inspection is made or at one central location and retained for at least 92 days. (c) Each carrier shall designate qualified persons to make the inspections required by this section. [45 FR 21109, Mar. 31, 1980, as amended at 50 FR 6953, Feb. 19, 1985; 67 FR 16050, Apr. 4, 2002] (a) Each locomotive and steam generator shall be inspected at each periodic inspection to determine whether it complies with this part. Except as provided in §229.9, all non-complying conditions shall be repaired before the locomotive or the steam generator is used. Except as provided in §229.33, the interval between any two periodic inspections may not exceed 92 days. Periodic inspections shall only be made where adequate facilities are available. At each periodic inspection, a locomotive shall be positioned so that a person may safely inspect the entire underneath portion of the locomotive. (b) The periodic inspection of the steam generator may be postponed indefinitely if the water suction pipe to the water pump and the leads to the main switch (steam generator switch) are disconnected, and the train line shut-off-valve is wired closed or a blind gasket applied. However, the steam generator shall be so inspected before it is returned to use. (c) After April 30, 1980, each new locomotive shall receive an initial periodic inspection before it is used. Except as provided in §229.33, each locomotive in use on or before April 30, 1980, shall receive an initial periodic inspection within 92 days of the last 30-day inspection performed under the prior rules (49 CFR 230.331 and 230.451). At the initial periodic inspection, the date and place of the last tests performed that are the equivalent of the tests required by §§229.27, 229.29, and 229.31 shall be entered on Form FRA F 6180–49A. These dates shall determine when the tests first become due under §§229.27, 229.29, and 229.31. Out of use credit may be carried over from Form FRA F 6180–49 and entered on Form FRA F 6180–49A. (d) Each periodic inspection shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A. The form shall be signed by the person conducting the inspection and certified by that person's supervisor that the work was done. The form shall be displayed under a transparent cover in a conspicuous place in the cab of each locomotive. (e) At the first periodic inspection in each calendar year the carrier shall remove from each locomotive Form FRA F 6180–49A covering the previous calendar year. If a locomotive does not receive its first periodic inspection in a calendar year before April 2 because it is out of use, the form shall be promptly replaced. The Form FRA F 6180–49A covering the preceding year for each locomotive, in or out of use, shall be signed by the railroad official responsible for the locomotive and filed as required in §229.23(f). The date and place of the last periodic inspection and the date and place of the last test performed under §§229.27, 229.29, and 229.31 shall be transferred to the replacement Form FRA F 6180–49A. (f) The mechanical officer of each railroad who is in charge of a locomotive shall maintain in his office a secondary record of the information reported on Form FRA F 6180–49A under this part. The secondary record shall be retained until Form FRA F 6180–49A has been removed from the locomotive and filed in the railroad office of the mechanical officer in charge of the locomotive. If the Form FRA F 6180–49A removed from the locomotive is not clearly legible, the secondary record shall be retained until the Form FRA F 6180–49A for the succeeding year is filed. The Form F 6180–49A removed from a locomotive shall be retained until the Form FRA F 6180–49A for the succeeding year is filed. [45 FR 21109, Mar. 31, 1980, as amended at 45 FR 39852, June 12, 1980; 50 FR 6953, Feb. 19, 1985] Each periodic inspection shall include the following: (a) All mechanical gauges used by the engineer to aid in the control or braking of the train or locomotive, except load meters used in conjunction with an auxiliary brake system, shall be tested by comparison with a dead-weight tester or a test gauge designed for this purpose. (b) All electrical devices and visible insulation shall be inspected. (c) All cable connections between locomotives and jumpers that are designed to carry 600 volts or more shall be thoroughly cleaned, inspected, and tested for continuity. (d) Each steam generator that is not isolated as prescribed in §229.23(b) shall be inspected and tested as follows: (1) All automatic controls, alarms and protective devices shall be inspected and tested. (2) Steam pressure gauges shall be tested by comparison with a dead-weight tester or a test gauge designed for this purpose. The siphons to the steam gauges shall be removed and their connections examined to determine that they are open. (3) Safety valves shall be set and tested under steam after the steam pressure gauge is tested. (e) Event recorder. A microprocessor-based self-monitoring event recorder, if installed, is exempt from periodic inspection under paragraphs (e)(1) through (e)(5) of this section and shall be inspected annually as required by §229.27(d). Other types of event recorders, if installed, shall be inspected, maintained, and tested in accordance with instructions of the manufacturer, supplier, or owner thereof and in accordance with the following criteria: (1) A written or electronic copy of the instructions in use shall be kept at the point where the work is performed and a hard-copy version, written in the English language, shall be made available upon request of a governmental agent empowered to request it. (2) The event recorder shall be tested before any maintenance work is performed on it. At a minimum, the event recorder test shall include cycling, as practicable, all required recording elements and determining the full range of each element by reading out recorded data. (3) If the pre-maintenance test does not reveal that the device is recording all the specified data and that all recordings are within the designed recording elements, this fact shall be noted, and maintenance and testing shall be performed as necessary until a subsequent test is successful. (4) When a successful test is accomplished, a copy of the data-verification results shall be maintained in any medium with the maintenance records for the locomotive until the next one is filed. (5) A railroad's event recorder periodic maintenance shall be considered effective if 90 percent of the recorders on locomotives inbound for periodic inspection in any given calendar month are still fully functional; maintenance practices and test intervals shall be adjusted as necessary to yield effective periodic maintenance. [45 FR 21109, Mar. 31, 1980, as amended at 58 FR 36614, July 8, 1993; 60 FR 27905, May 26, 1995; 66 FR 4192, Jan. 17, 2001; 70 FR 37939, June 30, 2005] A locomotive, except for a DMU or MU locomotive, shall be subjected to the tests and inspections prescribed in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section. A DMU locomotive or an MU locomotive shall be subjected to the tests and inspections prescribed in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. A locomotive, including a DMU locomotive or an MU locomotive, equipped with a microprocessor-based event recorder that includes a self-monitoring feature, shall be subjected to the tests and inspections prescribed in paragraph (d) of this section. All testing under this section shall be performed at intervals that do not exceed 368 calendar days. (a)(1) The filtering devices or dirt collectors located in the main reservoir supply line to the air brake system shall be cleaned, repaired, or replaced. (2) Brake cylinder relay valve portions, main reservoir safety valves, brake pipe vent valve portions, feed and reducing valve portions in the air brake system (including related dirt collectors and filters) shall be cleaned, repaired, and tested. (3) The date and place of the cleaning, repairing, and testing shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A and the person performing the work and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. A record of the parts of the air brake system that are cleaned, repaired, and tested shall be kept in the carrier's files or in the cab of the locomotive. (4) At its option, a carrier may fragment the work required by this paragraph. In that event, a separate air record shall be maintained under a transparent cover in the cab. The air record shall include the locomotive number, a list of the air brake components, and the date and place of the last inspection and test of each component. The signature of the person performing the work and the signature of that person's supervisor shall be included for each component. A duplicate record shall be maintained in the carrier's files. (b) The load meter shall be tested. Each device used by the engineer to aid in the control or braking of the train or locomotive that provides an indication of air pressure electronically shall be tested by comparison with a test gauge or self-test designed for this purpose. An error of greater than five percent or three pounds per square inch shall be corrected. The date and place of the test shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A, and the person conducting the test and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. (c) Each steam generator that is not isolated as prescribed in §229.23(b), shall be subjected to a hydrostatic pressure at least 25 percent above the working pressure and the visual return water-flow indicator shall be removed and inspected. (d) A microprocessor-based event recorder with a self-monitoring feature equipped to verify that all data elements required by this part are recorded, requires further maintenance only if either or both of the following conditions exist: (1) The self-monitoring feature displays an indication of a failure. If a failure is displayed, further maintenance and testing must be performed until a subsequent test is successful. When a successful test is accomplished, a record, in any medium, shall be made of that fact and of any maintenance work necessary to achieve the successful result. This record shall be available at the location where the locomotive is maintained until a record of a subsequent successful test is filed. (2) A download of the event recorder, taken within the preceding 30 days and reviewed for the previous 48 hours of locomotive operation, reveals a failure to record a regularly recurring data element or reveals that any required data element is not representative of the actual operations of the locomotive during this time period. If the review is not successful, further maintenance and testing shall be performed until a subsequent test is successful. When a successful test is accomplished, a record, in any medium, shall be made of that fact and of any maintenance work necessary to achieve the successful result. This record shall be kept at the location where the locomotive is maintained until a record of a subsequent successful test is filed. The download shall be taken from information stored in the certified crashworthy crash hardened event recorder memory module if the locomotive is so equipped. [45 FR 21109, Mar. 31, 1980, as amended at 66 FR 4192, Jan. 17, 2001; 70 FR 37940, June 30, 2005] (a) Except for the valves and valve portions on non-MU locomotives that are cleaned, repaired, and tested as prescribed in §229.27(a), all valves, valve portions, MU locomotive brake cylinders and electric-pneumatic master controllers in the air brake system (including related dirt collectors and filters) shall be cleaned, repaired, and tested at intervals that do not exceed 736 calendar days. The date and place of the cleaning, repairing, and testing shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A, and the person performing the work and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. A record of the parts of the air brake system that are cleaned, repaired, and tested shall be kept in the carrier's files or in the cab of the locomotive. (b) At its option, a carrier may fragment the work required by this section. In that event, a separate air record shall be maintained under a transparent cover in the cab. The air record shall include the locomotive number, a list of the air brake components, and the date and place of the inspection and test of each component. The signature of the person performing the work and the signature of that person's supervisor shall be included for each component. A duplicate record shall be maintained in the carrier's files. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, before it is put in service and at intervals that do not exceed 736 calendar days, each main reservoir other than an aluminum reservoir shall be subjected to a hydrostatic pressure of at least 25 percent more than the maximum working pressure fixed by the chief mechanical officer. The test date, place, and pressure shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A, and the person performing the test and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, each main reservoir other than an aluminum reservoir shall be hammer tested over its entire surface while the reservoir is empty at intervals that do not exceed 736 calendar days. The test date and place shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A, and the person performing the test and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. (c) Each welded main reservoir originally constructed to withstand at least five times the maximum working pressure fixed by the chief mechanical officer may be drilled over its entire surface with telltale holes that are three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. The holes shall be spaced not more than 12 inches apart, measured both longitudinally and circumferentially, and drilled from the outer surface to an extreme depth determined by the formula— D=(.6PR/(S–0.6P))
where: D=extreme depth of telltale holes in inches but in no case less than one-sixteenth inch; P=certified working pressure in pounds per square inch; S=one-fifth of the minimum specified tensile strength of the material in pounds per square inch; and R=inside radius of the reservoir in inches. One row of holes shall be drilled lengthwise of the reservoir on a line intersecting the drain opening. A reservoir so drilled does not have to meet the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, except the requirement for a hydrostatic test before it is placed in use. Whenever any such telltale hole shall have penetrated the interior of any reservoir, the reservoir shall be permanently withdrawn from service. A reservoir now in use may be drilled in lieu of the tests provided for by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, but it shall receive a hydrostatic test before it is returned to use. (d) Each aluminum main reservoir before being placed in use and at intervals that do not exceed 736 calendar days thereafter, shall be— (1) Cleaned and given a thorough visual inspection of all internal and external surfaces for evidence of defects or deterioration; and (2) Subjected to a hydrostatic pressure at least twice the maximum working pressure fixed by the chief mechanical officer, but not less than 250 p.s.i. The test date, place, and pressure shall be recorded on Form FRA F 6180–49A, and the person conducting the test and that person's supervisor shall sign the form. When a locomotive is out of use for 30 or more consecutive days or is out of use when it is due for any test or inspection required by §229.23, 229.25, 229.27, 229.29, or 229.31, an out-of-use notation showing the number of out-of-use days shall be made on an inspection line on Form FRA F 6180–49A. A supervisory employee of the carrier who is responsible for the locomotive shall attest to the notation. If the locomotive is out of use for one or more periods of at least 30 consecutive days each, the interval prescribed for any test or inspection under this part may be extended by the number of days in each period the locomotive is out of use since the last test or inspection in question. A movement made in accordance with §229.9 is not a use for purposes of determining the period of the out-of-use credit.
Title 49: Transportation
PART 229—RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY STANDARDS
Subpart B—Inspections and Tests
§ 229.21 Daily inspection.
§ 229.23 Periodic inspection: General.
§ 229.25 Tests: Every periodic inspection.
§ 229.27 Annual tests.
§ 229.29 Biennial tests.
§ 229.31 Main reservoir tests.
§ 229.33 Out-of-use credit.
