I hear that there are new government regulations coming down the line regarding bridge inspections. Has anyone done a comprehensive review of the new regulations? Do they apply to all railroads, or, do historic lines have an out? While each bridge might be different, does anyone know what kind of costs we should exspect? When do these new regs start?

Thanks.

Publication Date -- July 15, 2010
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/bridgefinalsafetyrule2010.pdf

At the risk of being a commercial, that's what we're working on now at Stone Consulting - specifically with the tourist and museum railroads and helping with the compliance and inspection plans.

The costs depend a lot on how many bridges you actually have, and in our case at least, whether we can work you in with another project nearby to minimize travel costs for the actual inspection trip. It's also a significant issue if you already have the engineering drawings that defined the bridge ratings - at least as designed - so that doesn't have to be redone.

One of the stranger things out of this that is absolutely true is that a turntable is defined as a bridge by the FRA. There are a couple railroad museums out there that would have no responsibility whatsoever for inspections if it weren't for that one. And if you are either getting inspected or have a staff engineer/volunteer that can do it, don't forget to include the turntable....

Really? No one has any first hand knowledge of the new bridge regulations and any impacts???

All I know about CZRY is what I see. Nothing running thru Campo for over 18 months. Tunnel 3 in Mexico is still out (fire, Decemer 25, 2009). I can't see into the future, so, who knows what happens next?

CZRy Mexico is moving traffic from SDIY at San Yisdro to Tecate BCN, Mexico 2 -3 times per week and into Tijuana daily.

Historic railroads do not have an out.

Our ever watchful Congress is concerned about old bridges that are not being maintained (let alone inspected) and prescribed bridge regulations in their 2008 railroad safety act. So the FRA was required to develop new regulations governing bridges. The regulations require the owner of the bridge to perform regular inspections, but also to prove bridge capacity. This will be the most expensive element to comply with unless you already have drawings and engineering calculations to prove it can handle the rated capacity. I requested a proposal from a respected bridge engineering firm to calculate capacity for a 19th Century 160 foot steel truss and it was in the low 6 figures. Of course that doesn't mean someone else won't do it for less or that your bridge would cost the same, but it is sobering nonetheless.

AREMA has a short Powerpoint presentation that lays out the general requirements quite nicely:
http://www.arema.org/files/library/2010_Conference_Proceedings/FRA_Bridge_Safety_Standards.pdf

Alternatively, you can read it from the source:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=c389a7aac2e223ad32156e3a5a4fc888&rgn=div5&view=text&node=49:4.1.1.1.31&idno=49

So most museums have until September 2012 to get a plan together and implement it.

--Richard

Richard,

Thanks for posting those documents. They shed a lot of light on the new regulation.

Jim, not everybody on the forum comments on all that they may become aware of, nor the steps that they may be pursuing to keep their operation going. Sometimes it is just a matter of not having enough time in the day. Folks chime in where they can, as Randy did.

Just a suggestion: My research finds that most railroads had exhaustive documentation of their infrastructure back in the day. Would a little digging in the archives provide the structural documentation needed for many sites?