AAR Field Manual / Rule 3
Field Manual of the AAR Interchange Rules Rule 3 –
Requirements for the Testing of Air Brake Equipment By: Adam Boyd, iIRX
44 | COAL TRANSPORTER
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ule 3 of the Field Manual of the AAR Interchange Rules describes the procedures and requirements for the testing of air brake equipment. Periodic testing of air brakes is required by both the FRA and the AAR, however, there are several additional reasons as to why an air brake test must be performed on a freight car. These include slid flat conditions on wheel sets, air brakes inoperative or cutting out on a car, thermal crack conditions on wheel plates, slack adjuster repair or renewal to name a few (refer to Chart A in Rule 3 of the AAR Field Manual for more information). Additionally, Rule 3 contains additional job codes for other brake system related tests. The most common reason for a single car air brake test to be performed is due to account of ‘over date’. Every car is ‘over date’ 12 months after its last air brake test was performed. This is true for new cars as well as old. When a car is ‘over date’ more than 57 months for older cars or 90 months from the built or rebuilt date for new cars, the car is placed on Maintenance Advisory 63 or Early Warning 5171. However, in reality, the cars are placed on advisory six months prior to the 57 or 90 month thresholds. When these cars are placed on the Early Warning or Maintenance Advisory, they are then subjected to a more extensive air brake test, as we will explore below. Additionally, Rule 3 also outlines Job Codes for slack adjuster, retaining valve, brake cylinder leakage test, as well as piston travel adjustment and empty/ load valve tests. Brake cylinder leakage tests, slack adjuster tests, retaining valve tests and empty/load valve tests are not permissible when also billing a Single Car Air Brake Test, (SCABT). The normal, standard air brake test is reported using Job Codes 1144 (4 port test, automatic), 1145 (manual) or 1146
(automatic). These are always reported using Condition Code 7, which means “Attention Required”. For normal over date testing (Why Made Code 21), the car must be on the repair track for some other reason – although that repair does not necessarily need to be a billable repair. So, if you see a repair card with a single over date SCABT on it, it is not necessarily incorrect – but it could be and should be questioned and investigated. The Early Warning or Maintenance Advisory Job Codes are 1139 (Manual), 1140 (Automatic), and 1142 (4 port automatic). These can only be reported with Why Made Code 13 and are only valid to be billed when a car is on either MA 63 or EW 5171. As of this writing, the combined cost of JC 1139 is over $271, while the cost of JC 1145 is $101.75. Reporting of SCABTs can take place through UMLER or via a web service integrated in modern fleet mechanical management systems. One of the more serious issues that car owners deal with presently is the accurate reporting of air brake tests done by internal or private repair shops. Oftentimes, shops may not report air brake tests or may think that they are reporting them but in actuality they are not. This can lead to erroneous testing, or inappropriate Early Warning Letter and/or Maintenance Advisory statuses on cars. Like many areas of managing the mechanical aspects of freight railcars, it is important to correlate all available data to determine if your equipment is operating in a safe and reliable way. In today’s high tech, digital environment, it is recommended that private car owners and fleet managers become more comfortable with the business intelligence and resultant superior, often cost-saving, decisions supplied by proper data management. s