# Conoco Pipe Line Company — Pipeline Safety Interpretation

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** PI-94-035
- **title:** Conoco Pipe Line Company — Pipeline Safety Interpretation
- **source type:** guidance
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** guidance
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 1994-10-24
- **effective on:** Not available
- **summary:** PI-94-035 response to Conoco Pipe Line Company concerning 195.1.
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- **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-94-035
- **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/Pipeline/1994/PI94035.pdf
**body:**

<<<PAGE 1>>>

October 24, 1994
Dwight D. Jackson
Manager, Pipeline Services and Regulatory Compliance
Conoco Pipe Line Company
Houston, Texas 77252
Dear Mr. Jackson:
Your letter of August 19, 1994, requests further clarification of the “ single public thoroughfare”
interpretation discussed in the preamble of the low-stress pipeline Final Rule (59 FR 35465; July
12, 1994). The interpretation concerned plants that are divided into separate parts by a single
public thoroughfare. It provides that a plant transfer line that crosses the thoroughfare may
qualify for the in-plant piping exception under § 195.1(b)(6).
You asked if a single public thoroughfare includes a railroad. As stated in the preamble, the
thoroughfare interpretation applies only to transfer piping that crosses a road. It does not apply
to piping that crosses a railroad, whether a mainline or spur. Railroads were excluded because of
the added risk that railroads pose to pipeline safety.
The thoroughfare interpretation does not mean that every plant transfer line that crosses a railroad
comes under the regulations in 49 CFR Part 195. If a plant transfer line does not come under the
in-plant piping exception because it crosses a railroad that divides a plant, it may still be excepted
under another provision of § 195.1(b). For example, certain low-stress pipelines are excepted
under § 195.1(b)(3). If a plant transfer line that crosses a railroad is subject to Part 195, the entire
transfer line comes under the regulations, not just the segment of the line inside the crossing.
I hope you find this information useful. You may wish to contact James C. Thomas, Director,
Southwest Region if you need any further assistance in meeting the Part 195 regulations (phone:
(713) 750-1746).
Sincerely,
Cesar De Leon
Deputy Associate Administrator for
Pipeline Safety
dal/195.1
94-10-24
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