[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 14, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18473-18476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9282]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Notice of Inspection Requirement for Richmond-Built Tank Car 
Tanks Originally Equipped with ``Foam-In-Place'' Insulation

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of inspection requirement.

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SUMMARY: This document publishes the text of a letter/notice sent by 
FRA to owners of record of tank cars originally built under a series of 
Certificates of Construction during the period from January 1, 1972, 
through December 31, 1982, and originally built with foam-in-place 
insulation and without a protective tank shell exterior coating, 
requiring inspections of such cars for listed unsafe conditions. The 
letter/notice was mailed individually to owners of record of the 
affected cars and is published in the Federal Register to provide 
notice to current and subsequent owners of the cars in the event that 
ownership of a car has been transferred, or is subsequently 
transferred, from the owner of record to another entity.

DATES: Inspections required under the notice must be completed on or 
before April 16, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward W. Pritchard (telephone 202-
493-6247), Office of Safety Assurance and Compliance, or Thomas A. 
Phemister (telephone 202-493-6050), Office of Chief Counsel, Federal 
Railroad Administration, 1120 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 21, 1995, the Research and 
Special Programs Administration published a final rule in Dockets HM 
175a and 201, Crashworthiness Protection Requirements for Tank Cars; 
this rule was a comprehensive revision of the requirements for building 
railroad tank cars and for inspecting and maintaining them in hazardous 
materials service. The requirements for inspecting and testing 
specification tank cars are stated at 49 CFR 180.509; that rule states 
the ``Conditions requiring inspection and test of tank cars'' are as 
follows:

    Without regard to any other periodic inspection and test 
requirement, a tank car must have an appropriate inspection and test 
according to the type of defect and the type of maintenance or 
repair performed if:
    (1) The tank car shows evidence of abrasion, corrosion, cracks, 
dents, distortions, defects in welds, or any other condition that 
makes the tank car unsafe for transportation. * * *
    (2) The tank car was in an accident and damaged to an extent 
that may adversely affect its capability to retain its contents.
    (3) The tank bears evidence of damage caused by fire.
    (4) The Associate Administrator for Safety, FRA, requires it 
based on the existence of probable cause that a tank car or a class 
or design of tank cars may be in an unsafe operating condition. (49 
CFR 180.509(b))

Acting on the authority granted in this regulation, on September 9, 
1998, FRA's Associate Administrator for Safety issued a requirement for 
the inspection of the outer shell of certain cars originally built 
between January 1, 1972, and December 31, 1982, with foam-in-place 
insulation and without a protective tank shell coating. The letter was 
mailed directly to each owner of record of every car meeting the 
defining characteristics, but FRA has learned that clerical errors in 
addressing the letters may have delayed or misdirected their delivery. 
Accordingly, the date listed above in this notice, under the heading 
DATES, extends the period within which inspections and tests must be 
completed. The letter is republished here in the event that ownership 
of a car has been transferred, or is subsequently transferred, from the 
owner of record to another entity. The text of the letter follows:

[[Page 18474]]

Notice of Inspection Requirement for Richmond-Built Tank Car Tanks 
Originally Equipped With ``Foam-in-Place'' Insulation

To: Owners of Record of Tank Cars Originally Built under 
Certificates of Construction Listed in Attachment A

    This notice imposes a requirement, pursuant to 49 CFR 180.509(b)(4) 
and effective with the date on which it is issued, that owners of 
Department of Transportation (DOT) specification tank cars, built by 
Richmond Tank Car Company during the period from January 1, 1972, 
through December 31, 1982, and originally constructed with foam-in-
place insulation and without a protective tank shell exterior coating 
must inspect all such cars for unsafe conditions on or before two (2) 
years from the date this notice is issued, as stated in greater detail 
below. This requirement applies to current and subsequent owners of the 
cars. This notice is being mailed to each of the entities listed on the 
certificate of construction as the owner of record of such a car; a 
similar notice will soon be published in the Federal Register in order 
to provide notice to current and subsequent owners of the cars in the 
event that ownership of a car has been transferred, or is subsequently 
transferred, from the owner of record to another entity.

Background

    During inspections to detect cracks in the head pads of Richmond-
built tank cars, requested in a December 5, 1988 letter from the 
Association of American Railroads (AAR) to tank car owners, several 
major owners reported that their inspections also revealed significant 
incidence of corrosion on the tank shells, both in areas void of foam 
and in cars built with foam and ceramic fiber applied to uncoated tank 
shells. On January 11, 1990, AAR wrote tank car owners requesting 
information on the integrity and condition of their foam-in-place 
insulated tank cars. Responding to the information furnished by the 
owners, AAR added to its Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, 
Specifications for Tank Cars (M-1002) (the Tank Car Manual) a 
requirement for a protective coating to the outside of the tank and the 
inside of the metal tank jacket whenever a tank is insulated.
    On March 5, 1996, a tank car loaded with liquefied petroleum gas 
(propane) catastrophically failed during a switching operation at a 
Consolidated Rail Corporation classification yard at Selkirk, New York. 
The car split in two around its circumference. One end remained in 
place and the other, coupled to several cars, rocketed down the tracks 
for several hundred feet spewing flames and smoke as fire consumed the 
entire contents of the car. This was a Richmond-built DOT105J300W tank 
car, originally constructed as a DOT105A300W with foam-in-place 
insulation. During the conversion process, the owner had discovered 
considerable outer-surface tank shell corrosion and had applied weld 
overlay to restore the contour and thickness of the tank shell. The FRA 
and National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) preliminary 
investigations discovered that the site of the origin of the tank 
failure was a point near the termination of one of the courses of weld 
overlay applied earlier to an area of the tank that had experienced 
exterior shell corrosion.
    On March 12, 1996, the AAR issued an Early Warning Letter requiring 
the owner of the Selkirk car to capture and inspect other cars (a group 
of about 80) built under the same or similar Certificates of 
Construction. All of the cars were inspected, except for two in 
storage, and several exhibited poor workmanship, weld porosity, lack of 
weld fusion, and cracking. On May 14, 1996, AAR wrote the tank car 
owner directly expressing concerns about other Richmond-built tank cars 
in its fleet and converted from 105A and 105S specifications to 105J 
cars. The car owner developed an inspection program, including acoustic 
emission testing, for all Richmond-built cars that had shell repairs 
made using the weld overlay method. As of June 4, 1998, 708 cars have 
been inspected, using nondestructive methods. These sister cars were 
inspected for weld overlay defects and cracking associated with weld 
overlay defects as well as exterior shell corrosion. No tank weld 
overlay defects, cracks, or significant corrosion have been detected on 
this block of more than 700 cars. Final inspections under this program 
are to be completed by December 31, 1998.
    Using information developed by the owner of the Selkirk car and 
information gathered in response to the January 11, 1990 AAR letter, 
FRA sent a letter on September 28, 1996, to all known owners of 
Richmond-built foam-in-place tank cars built without a protective 
coating on the outer surface of the tank shell. The letter sought 
details about this fleet, the shell inspections performed on the cars, 
and, if corrosion was present, the efforts made to repair the cars. 
Owners who had inspected the cars and elected to retire them were asked 
whether or not corrosion was a contributing factor in the retirement 
decision. Many of the tank car owners have responded to FRA. The data 
they furnished shows that approximately 19 percent of the inspected 
cars had over 25 square feet of exterior shell corrosion repaired with 
weld overlay; several other cars were retired due to excess corrosion.
    On October 15, 1997, an owner of 11 Richmond-built tank cars 
voluntarily notified FRA that one of its cars began leaking from a 
through-wall pit in the tank shell during a liquefied petroleum gas 
loading operation in Manhattan, Illinois, during July of that year. The 
car owner investigated the incident and discovered that the car had 
passed an ultrasonic thickness test (UTT) within 6 months of the tank 
shell failure. The owner also inspected the remaining tanks for 
corrosion and pitting. An internal UTT did not disclose any indication 
of corrosion or pitting following more than 70 individual tests on each 
car. However, after complete removal of the tank jacket and foam-in-
place insulation, the owner found severe exterior shell corrosion and 
pitting on four of the cars just tested. In several locations the tanks 
did not meet the minimum shell thickness requirements.
    FRA's investigation of the tank car that failed at Manhattan, 
Illinois, concluded, on December 21, 1997, that

    After observation of and review of the records for the cars 
discussed in this report, it is believed that the cars in this 
series do not comply with 49 CFR 179.100-4(a), as there appears to 
be no protective coating applied to the exterior surface of the 
carbon steel tank and the inside surface of the carbon steel jacket. 
If, at the time of manufacture, the foam was thought to provide this 
protective coating, both the service life of these cars and other 
anecdotal information show that the application of this urethane 
foam alone was ineffective in providing the required protective 
coating.

Although it is fortunate that neither the car failure in Selkirk, New 
York, nor the one in Manhattan, Illinois, caused fatalities, FRA draws 
no comfort from that fact. FRA believes that, because the foam-in-place 
insulation did not adhere completely to the outer shell, so that there 
are void spaces between the insulation and the shell, the cars did not 
comply with 49 CFR Sec. 179.100-4 in effect at the time of 
construction. Because of this, moisture can be retained in the void 
spaces and can exacerbate widespread corrosion of the exterior tank 
shell. Upon review of the information obtained from tank car owners and 
FRA's own investigation, it is FRA's opinion that widespread exterior 
shell corrosion and pitting may exist on a high number of the

[[Page 18475]]

approximately 2,307 cars remaining in service of the original 2,800 
cars built by Richmond under the Certificates of Construction listed in 
Attachment A.

Regulatory Authority

    The Hazardous Materials Regulations, at 49 CFR 180.509, state in 
relevant part:


Sec. 180.509  Requirements for inspection and test of specification 
tank cars.

* * * * *
    (b) Conditions requiring inspection and test of tank cars. Without 
regard to any other periodic inspection and test requirements, a tank 
car must have an appropriate inspection and test according to the type 
of defect and the type of maintenance or repair performed if:
* * * * *
    (4) The Associate Administrator for Safety, FRA, requires it based 
on the existence of probable cause that a tank car or a class or design 
of tank cars may be in an unsafe operating condition.

FRA's Determination and Basis

    FRA has determined that uninspected Richmond-built tank cars 
originally built with foam-in-place insulation and without a protective 
tank shell exterior coating constructed under the Certificates of 
Construction in Attachment A, may be in an unsafe operating condition. 
As used in this requirement for inspection and test, the word 
``uninspected'' when describing a car means that the car has not had 
its jacket and foam insulation removed and that the exterior surface of 
its tank shell, heads, and nozzles have not been inspected for 
corrosion and pitting. FRA bases its determination on the historical 
record of these cars as set forth in the ``Background'' section of this 
letter, specifically, the following: (1) The significant incidence of 
shell corrosion discovered during the post-December 5, 1988 inspections 
to detect head pad cracks in Richmond-built foam-in-place tank cars; 
(2) the catastrophic failure of a car from this series at Selkirk, New 
York, on March 5, 1996, and the data developed from inspections 
requested after that accident by both FRA and AAR, including the 
presence of exterior shell corrosion requiring weld overlay repairs in 
excess of 25 square feet on 19 percent of the sample fleet; and (3) the 
July 1997 discovery in Manhattan, Illinois, of a car from this series 
with a through-wall corrosion pit and the October 15, 1997, reporting 
of the subsequent discovery of similar corrosion on 4 of 11 sister 
cars.

Appropriate Inspection and Test

    Based on the foregoing, I order and require the following 
inspection and test:
    1. The ``class or design of tank cars'' subject to this inspection 
and test requirement is uninspected DOT specification cars originally 
built during the period from January 1, 1972, through December 31, 
1982, by Richmond Tank Car Company with foam-in-place insulation and 
without a protective tank shell exterior coating.
    2. Each car to be inspected under this order and requirement must 
have the tank jacket and foam insulation removed prior to inspection. 
This requirement is based on the Manhattan, Illinois, experience, that 
voids in the foam insulation and non-adhesion of the foam to the outer 
tank shell are conditions not reliably detectable by an ultrasonic 
thickness test (UTT).
    3. After the jacket and foam insulation have been removed, the 
exterior of the tank shell must be inspected for corrosion, pitting, 
and any other condition that would render the exterior of the tank 
shell out of compliance with the Federal tank car regulations (49 CFR 
part 179 and part 180, Subpart F) or the AAR Tank Car Manual.
    4. An ``appropriate inspection and test'' required by 49 CFR 
180.509(b) is also subject to the quality assurance program 
requirements of 49 CFR 180.505 and the reporting requirements of 49 CFR 
180.517.
    5. In order to ensure tank car safety, FRA finds that the 
appropriate inspection and test required by this notice must be 
completed on or before August 14, 2000.
    6. A car found not in compliance with the Federal tank car 
regulations or the AAR Tank Car Manual must be returned to a complying 
condition before it is loaded and offered for shipment.

Additional Maintenance Suggestion

    The owner of the Selkirk car has inspected more than 700 sister 
cars for weld overlay defects and cracking associated with weld overlay 
defects, as well as for exterior shell corrosion. Although structural 
cracks and weld defects have been discovered in the stub sill areas of 
the tank cars, no tank weld overlay defects or cracks have been 
detected on this block of cars. In order to maintain this assurance of 
tank car safety, FRA believes the possible existence of surface and 
subsurface weld overlay defects warrants inclusion of non-destructive 
examination, by a qualified individual using a qualified procedure, of 
any existing weld overlay repair area prior to the application or 
reapplication of a tank jacket.
    If you have questions regarding these inspection requirements, 
please contact Edward Pritchard (202-493-6247) or Brenda Hattery (202-
493-6326) of my staff.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 9, 1998.
George A. Gavalla,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety, Federal Railroad 
Administration.

 Attachment A.--Owners of Record of Foam-in-Place Tank Cars Built Under
    Richmond Tank Car Company's Original Certificates of Construction
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Owner of record of cars
                                           originally built under the
      Certificate of construction             listed certificate of
                                                  construction
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A734030...............................  PLM International, Inc.
A734030A..............................  PLM International, Inc.
                                        U S L Capital Rail Services
A734031...............................  PLM International, Inc.
A734031A..............................  PLM International, Inc.
A744000...............................  E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.,
                                         Inc.
                                        PLM International, Inc.
A754014...............................  General Electric Railcar
                                        Services Corporation
                                        GLNX Corporation
                                        SGA Leasing Company
                                        Transportation Equipment, Inc.
                                        U S L Capital Rail Services
A754014A..............................  PLM International, Inc.
A754014B..............................  Transportation Equipment, Inc.
A754015...............................  GLNX Corporation
                                        On-Track Railcar Services
                                         Corporation
                                        PLM International, Inc.
A764008...............................  PLM International, Inc.
 
A774006...............................  GLNX Corporation
                                        PLM International, Inc.
                                        Transportation Equipment, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A7740066..............................  Transportation Equipment, Inc.
A774006C..............................  On-Track Railcar Services
                                         Corporation
                                        PLM International, Inc.
                                        Shell Oil Company
A774019...............................  Union Tank Car Company
A774020B..............................  Exxon Chemical Americas
A784002...............................  The Dow Chemical Company
A794001A..............................  The Dow Chemical Company
A794002...............................  General American Transportation
                                         Corporation
                                        GLNX Corporation
                                        Transportation Equipment, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A7940026..............................  Transportation Equipment, Inc.

[[Page 18476]]

 
A794017...............................  C. W. Brooks, Inc.
                                        General American Transportation
                                         Corporation
                                        GLNX Corporation
                                        Martin Gas Sales, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A794024...............................  The Dow Chemical Company
A804002...............................  PLM International, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A804013...............................  Union Carbide Corporation
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A804021...............................  Phillips Petroleum Company
                                        Union Tank Car Company
A814004...............................  Union Tank Car Company
A814007...............................  Union Tank Car Company
A814007A..............................  PLM International, Inc.
A814014A..............................  Allied Chemical Company (Allied
                                         Corporation)
F734037...............................  PLM International, Inc.
F764007...............................  Union Tank Car Company
F774001...............................  Union Tank Car Company
F774012...............................  Aeropress Corporation
                                        GLNX Corporation
                                        PLM International, Inc.
                                        Transportation Equipment, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
F7740126..............................  PLM International, Inc.
                                        Transportation Equipment, Inc.
F814001...............................  Exxon Chemical Americas
F814009...............................  PLM International, Inc.
                                        Union Tank Car Company
F814012...............................  Union Tank Car Company
F824003...............................  PLM International, Inc.
F824003A..............................  PLM International, Inc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 8, 1999 under the authority 
delegated in 49 CFR 1.49 and under 49 CFR 180.509(b).
George A. Gavalla,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety.
[FR Doc. 99-9282 Filed 4-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P