Train Accident Newsroom

The FRA’s Regulations Regarding CWR Are Silent On Inspections Of Joint Bars

Visual inspection from a moving vehicle is inadequate because, for example, a track inspector checking the accident location from a vehicle traveling west to east would be able to see only the tops of the joint bars on the north rail, and the outside joint bar on the south rail would not be visible at all. Even those joint bars that can be partially seen by an inspector may have small fractures or fatigue cracks that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to see from a moving vehicle. Instead, to adequately visually inspect joint bars, an inspector must dismount the vehicle and conduct an up-close, on-the-ground inspection of both the field- and gage-side bars for small hairline cracks. The joint bar fatigue cracks that eventually fractured and led to the Minot derailment were externally visible over a length of 1.9 inch on the gage-side bar and 0.8 inch on the field-side bar. An on-the-ground, visual inspection of this joint bar would almost certainly have detected the larger crack, which should have led to replacement of the joint bar before it failed and caused a derailment. A secondary benefit of on-the-ground rail joint inspection in CWR territory is that the inspector could assess the rail joint gap as well as look for evidence of bent or loose bolts.
 
The FRA’s regulations regarding CWR are silent on inspections of joint bars. Although, by definition, CWR joints are welded rather than being bolted with joint bars, in practice, a length of CWR can have numerous joint bars where rail plugs have been added to replace defective rail sections. Although FRA regulations state that cracked or broken joint bars shall be replaced, they do not provide any guidance on finding such joint bars. Defects such as fatigue cracks develop and grow over time until, as in this accident, the bar can no longer support the load and fractures. With the proper frequency and type of joint bar inspections—specifically, on-the-ground visual inspections—these defects can be detected, and the defective bars can be repaired or replaced before their minor defects lead to complete failure and a possible derailment. Moreover, as noted previously, on-the-ground visual inspections can detect rail gaps, loose bolts, poor joint support, or other conditions that can be corrected before cracking develops. Unfortunately, a railroad can meet existing FRA CWR regulations without an effective joint bar inspection program.

As a result, the Safety Board concluded in the same report, “FRA requirements regarding rail joints in CWR track are ineffective because they do not require on-the-ground visual inspections or nondestructive testing adequate to identify cracks before they grow to critical size and result in joint bar failure.” On March 15, 2004, the Safety Board made two recommendations to the FRA on this issue: