Subject: AAR Standards (7/10/1990)
[6/30/86] AAR - On June 24, Messrs. Basich, Green and I met with the Amtrak advisory committee on passenger equipment standards, which is a sub-committee of the Mechanical Division General Committee of the AAR. Prior to the sub-committee meeting, we provided a luncheon at the Overland Park Marriott for the members from the railroads and the AAR who attended, and Amtrak provided cocktails and dinner after the meeting. It appears likely that the Amtrak standards will be adopted by the AAR for occupied passenger cars. We agreed with this concept, but explained that we felt the Amtrak standards were too stringent when moving passenger cars in line-haul freight trains. For example, neither graduated release nor tightlock couplers are needed in freight trains. We encouraged the AAR to put the passenger car standards back into the field manual of interchange rules. This they declined to do, because there are only 300 passenger cars which are roadworthy, and this is not enough to justify the printing expense. We did go over several problems, such as lube dates and amounts. The AAR suggested that each private owner keep a copy of the passenger car rules with his car, to show inspectors who are not familiar with the passenger cars.
With the cooperation of John Kuehl and Larry Haines, we were able to pass out issues of Private Varnish and also the safety brochures to the people attending the AAR meeting. We also received considerable insight into the meeting from Dick Cataldi.
We felt the effort to meet with the AAR was worthwhile, and believe they were pleasantly surprised to find reasonable businessmen as passenger car owners, rather than the frothing rail fans they normally encounter. We look forward to the further opportunity to work with the AAR.
[6/19/87] WOODSIDED - STEEL SHEATHED CARS - Following a request from one of our members in North Carolina, Amtrak has advised that they have adopted the AAR regulations which state that all wood, or combination wood and steel superstructure, with steel-covered wooden siding, are not acceptable in passenger service. So, all such old cars with composite wood construction are now prohibited on Amtrak.
[8/31/87] Amtrak Advisory Committee - As a result of our presentation to the above committee last year, we have been invited to send a representative to the future meetings of the committee. We are certainly pleased with this news, as it will provide an opportunity for us to work more closely with the carrier railroads, particularly as regards mechanical matters.
[1/7/88] Crash Posts - Amtrak follows the AAR's rules and recommended practices for the construction of passenger cars. An Amtrak inspector recently noted the rebuilding of a car to an observation platform configuration, and questioned Washington as to the necessity for building new crash posts into the car, as required by the AAR manual Section 18 at A III 6.
If you remove or modify the original crash posts on your car, you will be required to submit mechanical drawings and calculations to Amtrak's engineering department to show that you have replaced the original crash posts with suitable substitutes, as required by the AAR. You may expect this decision to be applied retroactively, hopefully with some grace period, to cars which have already been accepted by Amtrak.
[6/26/89] AAR - Amtrak Passenger Car Committee - This AAR advisory committee met in Montreal on June 20. In addition to Bob Burk and John Hutchison of Amtrak, there were representatives of the Santa Fe, Norfolk Southern, Northwestern, Canadian National, and Grand Trunk present. The AAR representative announced that the AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices for passenger cars was out of stock, will not be reprinted, and is discontinued. His view was that the manual is out of date and that there are so few passenger cars in existence that it is not economical for the AAR to continue the publication. He further emphasized that the AAR is concerned only with interchange, and passenger cars are no longer interchanged, except by special agreement of the railroads. I believe an effort will be made to overcome this decision.
The principal topic of discussion was the proposal by Amtrak to bring the passenger car Standards and Recommended Practices up to date, to delete obsolete material, and to add new materials, principally the Amtrak PC1 and 2 forms with instructions and maintenance and rebuild procedures.
Specifically Amtrak proposes that pages A-III 71-214 and 275-282 be entirely deleted as obsolete. If you do not have a copy of the AAR passenger car standards, you should obtain one as soon as you can from your nearest friendly railroad, and keep in a safe place, for future reference. If you have any objection to the deletion of these pages, kindly let me know which ones ought to be kept, and why. My recommendation is that we should keep pages 85-88, 120-124 (however these pages need to be updated), 129, 130, 154-159 and 179.
Amtrak would like to have several of its own documents adopted by the AAR including the inspection of brake discs for thermal cracks, the Amtrak private car requirement relating to clearance and leveling (this material is found in your HEP manual which is given out at the HEP schools), the Amtrak specifications on marker lights, and the SMP 25603 on Design Criteria for Operating Speeds of Private and Railroad Business Cars, the Amtrak specifications on HEP and finally the SMP 28603 entitled "Standard for Handling Privately-Owned Cars on Amtrak Trains" (otherwise known as the 40 year inspection material). Again, there may be other and further materials which you believe should be included in the revised AAR Standards and Recommended Practices, and if you will let me know what they are, I will be happy to pass your comments on.
Amtrak is now beginning to require the carrier railroads to meet the same high standards which are required of private cars. More specifically, Elton Miller has inspected some Conrail passenger equipment and has refused to handle the equipment until it is brought up to standards. Bob Burk stated that he will recommend that all equipment handled on Amtrak trains, regardless of the owner or the carrier, will have to meet SMP 28603. Frankly, I consider this a very healthy sign because it eliminates discrimination, and it will ensure safer trains.
Everyone agreed that if the standards are to be updated, it should be done under the sanction of the AAR, and not simply be a mandate from Amtrak. Consideration was also given to substantially expanding the committee to include members from the heavy transit railroads, such as MBTA, Metro North, Long Island, New Jersey Transit, and Cal Tran.
As side notes, there was mention of one carrier, I believe it was CSX, that will not haul passenger cars unless they meet Amtrak standards. The Norfolk Southern representative stated that he has had no problems with AAPRCO members during the last year and that he believes that some of the other people who have their passenger cars moved on his railroad are now starting to get their acts together, and are causing much less trouble than in the past. Finally, Amtrak mentioned that it is experimenting with plastic wear liners to fit in the pedestal jaws of passenger trucks. If their experiment works, it would be a real advantage to all of us, because these liners would not be as rigid as the manganese steel ones, hence they would not be as subject to cracking or weld breaking.
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[7/10/90] AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices for Passenger Cars - Last June I advised that the AAR representative at the AAR-Amtrak Passenger Car Committee announced that the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices was out of stock, will not be reprinted, and is discontinued. As predicted, this decision has been reversed, and a new committee has been formed to completely revise the manual, to delete obsolete material, and to include current thinking, as well as maintenance requirements. This committee has had two meetings, one in Chicago and one in Washington, D.C. In addition to Amtrak and representatives from the AAR and AAPRCO, there are participants from the Long Island Railroad, Metra (Chicago), Septa, Maryland DOT, Norfolk Southern, Ringling Brothers, Metro North, and VIA. The AAR has hired Ira Kulbersh, retired from the Chicago Northwestern, as its consultant to head this committee.
The objective of the committee is to act as an advisory body to the consultant to revise and rewrite the passenger car manual to reflect current design and maintenance requirement for long distance and heavy commuter passenger equipment. One of my objectives is to retain those parts of the Manual which are important to private car owners, even if it has to go into an obsolete category, and to attempt to preclude the adoption of standards which would impact adversely (prohibit the interchange) of our members' equipment. I am particularly interested in maintaining the ability to move cars which were made to AAR standards in the first instance, but I also recognize, as you should also, that maintenance standards need to be addressed. There is no doubt that cars which meet Amtrak 40 year inspection standards will be acceptable to the AAR. The question is whether cars which do not meet that standard will be acceptable. Obviously, every road is free to haul any car it wishes on its own system, and is not required to haul any car over 40 years of age. The issue is whether a sound car can be freely interchanged with another carrier. The committee has simply not gotten into this area yet, so it is too early to predict the outcome. The last meeting got only to page A-III-10 which concerned the specifications for the construction of new passenger cars.
Paul L. DeVerter II
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