(a) Each tank car built after March 16, 2009 for the transportation of a material poisonous by inhalation must, in addition to the requirements prescribed in §179.100-12(c), enclose the service equipment within a protective housing and cover.

(1) Tank cars must be equipped with a top fitting protection system and nozzle capable of sustaining, without failure, a rollover accident at a speed of 9 miles per hour, in which the rolling protective housing strikes a stationary surface assumed to be flat, level and rigid and the speed is determined as a linear velocity, measured at the geometric center of the loaded tank car as a transverse vector. Failure is deemed to occur when the deformed protective housing contacts any of the service equipment or when the tank retention capability is compromised.

(2) As an alternative to the tank car top fitting protection system requirements in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the tank car may be equipped with a system that prevents the release of product from any top fitting in the case of an accident where any top fitting would be sheared off. The tank nozzle must meet the performance standard in paragraph (a)(1) of this section and only mechanically operated excess flow devices are authorized.

(b) An application for approval of a tank car built in accordance with §173.244(a)(3) or §173.314(d) must include a demonstration, through engineering analysis, that the tank jacket and support structure system, including any anchors and support devices, is capable of withstanding a 6 mile per hour coupling without jacket shift such that results in damage to the nozzle.

[74 FR 1802, Jan. 13, 2009]