CN Eyes Expansion of ‘In-Train Wheelset Replacement Program’

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CN subsidiary Illinois Central (IC) has petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for a waiver of compliance to add a new location to its “in-train wheelset replacement program,” according to an FRA notice in the Federal Register’s June 25 edition. The program currently operates under a waiver at a facility in Fulton, Ky., and has been “a resounding success,” the railroad told FRA.

CN specifically “seeks relief from the requirements of 49 CFR 232.305(b)(2), Single car air brake tests, to ‘permit the replacement of non-FRA condemnable wheelsets on railcars as part of an in-train wheelset replacement program without the need to also perform the [single car air brake test (SCABT)]’ as required,” according to the FRA notice (download below). “The existing wheelset replacement program which ‘identifies and replaces wheel-sets with minor defects, which are condemnable under [Association of American Railroads] standards,’ operates under a waiver in Docket Number FRA-2019-0003 for a facility in Fulton, Kentucky. CN states that the program has been ‘a resounding success.’ CN seeks to add a new location, Memphis, Tennessee, to its wheelset replacement program.” The notice states that the Memphis location would be “‘an alternative location to perform repairs and wheel-set replacements under an SCABT waiver[,] so as to avoid trains queuing at Fulton for work pursuant to’ the waiver in Docket Number FRA-2019-0003 granted for the Fulton location.”

CN, in support of its request, “states that ‘the repairs conducted and wheels changed out under the SCABT waiver have made a huge contribution to preventing and reducing the number of wheel, bearing, impact, and broken rail-caused derailments, as well as associated injuries,’” FRA reported in the notice. “CN adds that the program ‘will improve safety by significantly reducing the number of switching events required to replace wheel-sets as CN will no longer have to remove cars from trains at this location and place them in specialized repair tracks to replace the wheel-set.’”