A bill to direct the Federal Railroad Administration to make welded rail and tank car improvements.
Welded Rail and Tank Car Safety Improvement Act - Directs the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to: (1) require each track owner using continuous welded rail (CWR) track to include in the plan filed with the FRA procedures to improve the identification of cracks in rail joint bars; (2) instruct FRA track inspectors to obtain the most recent CWR program of a railroad and require them to use those programs when conducting track inspections; (3) establish a program to review CWR joint bar inspection data from railroads and FRA track inspectors periodically; (4) validate a predictive model to quantify the relevant dynamic forces acting on railroad tank cars under accident conditions; and (5) initiate a rulemaking to develop and implement appropriate design standards for pressurized tank cars.
Requires the FRA to: (1) conduct a comprehensive analysis to determine the impact resistance of the steels in the shells of pressure tank cars constructed before 1989; and (2) establish a program to rank the cars according to their risk of catastrophic fracture and separation, and implement measures to eliminate or mitigate such risk.
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3486)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3486-3487)
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