{"operation":"document","citation":"09-0125","title":"Association of American Railroads — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2009-05-20","effective_on":null,"summary":"09-0125 response to Association of American Railroads concerning 174.63.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0125.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0125.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0125","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2009/090125.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department of Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration\nMAY 2 0 2009\n1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nMr. Robert E. Fronczak\nAssistant Vice President\nEnvironment and Hazardous Materials\nAssociation of American Railroads\n50 F Street NW\nWashington, DC 2000 1 - 1 564\nRef. No.: 09-0125\nDear Mr. Fronczak:\nThis responds to your April 27,2009 email concerning the Association of American\nRailroad's AAR-600 program. You note that the Tank Car Committee of the Association of\nAmerican Railroads (AAR) has recommended discontinuance of the program and request\nthat the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) amend the\nHazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 17 1-1 80) to delete current\nrequirements that reference AAR 600.\nCurrently, a bulk packaging, including a portable tank, transported in container-on-flatcar\n(COFC) or trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) service must conform to the conditions specified in 8\n174.63 of the HMR. These regulations require approval by the Associate Administrator for\nSafety, Federal Railroad Administration, unless, among other things, the tank conforms to\nrequirements in AAR-600 of the AAR Specifications for Tank Cars, \"Specifications for\nAcceptability of Tank Containers.\" In accordance with AAR-600, approval and registration\nof compliant portable tanks is required, based on a determination that the tank meets all\napplicable standards and payment of a registration fee.\nAs your email notes, since incorporation of the AAR-600 standard into the HMR, PHMSA\nhas adopted standards for portable tanks that meet or exceed the AAR-600 requirements.\nMoreover, most of the portable tanks listed in the AAR-600 standard are prohibited from\nnew construction, although they may remain in service provided that they continue to meet\nthe applicable standard. For these reasons, we agree that the 5 174.63(c) reference to AAR-\n600 is outdated and should instead specify that portable tanks transported in COFC or TOFC\nservice must conform to all HMR requirements applicable to portable tanks. We intend to\npropose a revision to 5 174.63(c) as soon as practicable.\nIn the interim, until a revision can be effected through rulemaking, DOT will continue to\nrequire packagings outlined in 5 174.63 to meet the requirements of AAR-600. However,\nDOT will take no exception to AAR removing the registration requirement through\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\npublication of a circular as it has no substantial impact on the safe transportation of these\nshipments.\nI hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or\nneed additional information.\nSincerely,\nV\nSusan Gorsky\nRegulations Officer\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nAAR 600 Program and Recommended Deletion of 49 CFR 5 174.63 (c) (2) Page 1 of 2\nGorsky, Susan cPHMSA> 4 12 4 -.b3\n-Tad I\n-,,, ,,\nFrom: Fronczak, Robert [rfronczak@aar.org]\nSent: Monday, April 27, 2009 4:29 PM\nTo: Gorsky, Susan <PHMSA>\nCc: Forister, Matthew; Rush, Mike; rfronczak8aar.org\nSubject: AAR 600 Program and Recommended Deletion of 49 CFR 5174.63 (c) (2)\nDear Ms. Gorsky:\nAs recently discussed over the phone, AAR's Tank Car Committee with the support of AAR's Haz Mat (BOE)\nCommittee recently recommended the discontinuance of the AAR 600 program. The reasons for this\nrecommendation are:\n1. The AAR Tank Car Committee and AAR Hazardous Materials (BOE) Committee both agree that the\ncurrent 49 CFR regulations exceed the AAR 600 requirements,\n2. All of the specifications for original construction listed in the AAR 600 Standard were not allowed to\nbe built after January 1, 2003 except DOT Specification 60 and international standard 1496-3 which\nare both already covered in 49 CFR. DOT Specification 60 can be found under 49 CFR 5178.255\nand 1496-3 can be found under the specifications for LIN portable tanks 49 CFR 5178.274. Again\nthe DOT standard meets or exceeds AAR 600.\n3. After January 1,2010 the AAR 600 Standard will no longer be needed since all tanks will have to\nmeet requirements meeting or exceeding AAR 600 requirements in accordance with 49 CFR 5171.14. AAR\n600 does not cover UN portable tank requirements.\nAAR has not published a circular letter announcing the discontinuance of the AAR 600 program because there is\nstill a requirement in the federal regulations which requires shippers to conform to the program (i.e. 49 CFR\n5174.63 (c) (2). In the mean time, AAR continues to charge customers for registration of portable tanks according\nto AAR 600 standard, which we would like to stop as soon as practicable. AAR would like to discontinue the\nregistration process immediately.\nAs a result AAR recommends the immediate deletion of 49 CFR 5174.63 (c) (2) from the federal regulations and\nin the mean time a letter announcing DOT'S intention to do so. That would allow AAR to stop processing AAR 600\nregistrations and announce to the affected industry the discontinuance of the AAR 600 program.\nSincerely,\nRobert E. Fronczak\nSupporting regulations references:\nPart 171 General Information, Regulations, and Definitions\n49 CFR 9171.14 Transitional provisions for implementing certain requirements (d)(4) Until January 1,2010\na hazardous material may be transported in an IM, IMO, DOT specification 51 portable tank in accordance with\nthe T Codes (Special Provisions) assigned to a hazardous material in Column (7) of the 5172.101 Table in effect\non September 30,2001.\nPart 173 Shippers - General Requirements for Shipments and Packagings, Subpart B-Preparation Hazardous Materials for Transportation\nof\n\n<<<PAGE 4>>>\n\nAAR 600 Program and Recommended Deletion of 49 CFR 8174.63 (c) (2) Page 2 of 2\n$173.32 Requirements for the use of portable tanks (c)(2) Grandfather provisions for portable tanks: A\nDOT Specification 51, IM 101, or IM102 portable tank may not be manufactured after January 1,2003; however,\nsuch tanks may continue to be used for the transportation of a hazardous material provided they meet the\nrequirements of this subchapter, including the specification requirements and the requirements of this subchapter\nfor the transportation of the particular hazard material according to the T codes in effect on September 30, 2001\nor the new T codes in 172.1 02(c)(7)(i) (see 91 71 .I 4(d)(4) for transitional provisions applicable to T codes), and\nprovided the portable tank conforms to the periodic inspection and tests specified for the particular portable tank\nin subpart G of part 180 of this subchapter. After January 1, 2003, all newly manufactured portable tanks must\nconform to the requirements for the design, construction and approval of UN portable tanks as specified in\n95178.273, 178.274, 178.275, 178.276, 178.277 and part 180, subpart g, of this subchapter.\n$49 CFR $174.63 (c) (2) The tank and flatcar conform to requirements in AAR 600 of the AAR Specifications for\nTank Cars, \"Specifications for Acceptability of Tank Containers\" (IBR, see 5171.7 of this subchapter);","truncated":false,"body_characters":6959}