[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 49, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 49CFR229.25]



[Page 394-395]

 

                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION

 

       CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF 

                             TRANSPORTATION

 

PART 229_RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY STANDARDS--Table of Contents

 

                     Subpart B_Inspections and Tests

 

Sec.  229.25  Tests: Every periodic inspection.



    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-



[[Page 395]]



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 Sec.  

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 Sec.  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]