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At ARC we know our niche
ARC has over
33 years in railroad track installations, maintenance and repair experience. It is our intent to find an
area of railroad track structure business and excel in that area, we believe that we have
done that.
ARC has since 1992
contacted 5,000 Midwestern industries, grain companies, plastic companies, scrap and new
steel companies, paper makers, bread bakers, auto builders and many more who have one
thing in common, they all own, and/or operate and must maintain a section of railroad
track. ARC has contacted the same companies every year to see how well their
track holds up under usage. Not only have we contracted these companies we have personally
visited and inspected over 1,500 of these companies railroad track.
ARC armed with collected
information and our 33 years experience is best shared by creating the Railroad Track
Ownership Manual for industry owned railroad. We all know that industries who own, operate
and maintain their own section of railroad, are diversified and sometimes as different as
night and day, each having very different railroad needs. A Manual the
size needed
to cover all aspects of industrial owned railroad could only be possible now with
the Internet.
Below you will find a
Q&A section answering the most frequently asked questions out of over 40,000
inquires in the last fourteen years (results on file.) Questions like, Is a railroad
track safety inspection mandatory on industry owned railroads? Is there a penalty for non
compliance with the FRA? Will the FRA want a copy of the Track Safety Reports? The
answers are supported by the Department of Transportation, FRA Track Safety Standards
{Section 49 Part 213}.
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Isn't it
our company's serving railroad’s responsibility to perform a Railroad Track
Safety Inspection on our industries privately owned railroads spur?
No, the FRA states that the
responsibility for a railroad track safety inspection lies solely on the owner of the
track as in 213.5 of the FRA
standards. For obvious liability reasons the railroad company's actually discourage their
track safety inspectors from doing track safety inspections on industry owned railroad.
Generally, it's the train crew that reports unsafe track conditions, but not until those
conditions are intolerable. Usually at that point, the railroads track safety inspector
becomes involved to officially shut down the company's railroad spur. |
- Is a railroad track safety inspection mandatory on industry
owned railroads.
- As in 213.231 of
the FRA railroad safety standards, the FRA, mandates that all railroad tracks in the
general operating system must have a regular track safety inspection. Whether your company
has 500 feet of track or 500 miles with few exceptions, (213.3) your company operates
railroad in the general transportation system.
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- Is there a penalty for non compliance with the FRA? Will the
FRA want a copy of the Track Safety Reports?
- Fines that may be imposed could
reach $11,000 per incident. (see
213.15) The FRA may never ask for the Track Safety Inspection Report, unless a
incident occurs.
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- Who is
qualified to perform a railroad track safety inspection? Why can’t I
perform the inspection myself?
- As in 213.7 of
the FRA railroad safety standards, the FRA requires a minimal
amount of qualification for one to be a qualified railroad track safety
inspector. For the safety inspection report to be legitimate the inspector
who performs the inspection must meet FRA requirements. ARC’s 33 years
experiences, as well as formal training, well exceeds the minimal
requirements.
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- If our company has a railroad track safety inspected and
that tracks fails, will we loses service to that track?
- As in 213.4 of
the FRA railroad safety standards, the FRA offers a minimum standard for safe operations. If a
track fails a safety inspection, that track will fail your company's needs. The FRA allows
30 days in most cases for remedial action to take place. These are usually very
small inexpensive repairs taking less than a day to perform.
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- Does the completed track safety inspection go to the
FRA? What about our company's privacy?
- The FRA only requires that
the inspection report be kept on file for a period of one year at the location responsible
for the track.(see213.241)
ARC never shares information with anyone on the condition of any railroad track that was
inspected. The inspection reports are kept strictly confidential between ARC and the
clients. ARC is under no obligation to report the findings to the FRA or others.
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