(a) Single car air brake tests shall be performed by a qualified person in accordance with either Section 3.0, “Tests-Standard Freight Brake Equipment,” and Section 4.0, “Special Tests,” of the Association of American Railroads Standard S-486-04, “Code of Air Brake System Tests for Freight Equipment,” contained in the AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, Section E (January 1, 2004); an alternative procedure approved by FRA pursuant to §232.17; or a modified procedure approved in accordance with the provisions contained in §232.307. The incorporation by reference of these two sections of this AAR standard was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. You may obtain a copy of the incorporated document from the Association of American Railroads, 50 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001. You may inspect a copy of the document at the Federal Railroad Administration, Docket Clerk, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC or at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal__register/code__of__federal__regulations/ibr__locations.html.

(b) Except as provided in §232.303(e), a railroad shall perform a single car air brake test on a car when:

(1) A car has its brakes cut-out or inoperative when removed from a train or when placed on a shop or repair track, as defined in §232.303(a);

(2) A car is on a shop or repair track, as defined in §232.303(a), for any reason and has not received a single car air brake test within the previous 12-month period;

(3) A car is found with missing or incomplete single car air brake test information;

(4) One or more of the following conventional air brake equipment items is removed, repaired, or replaced:

(i) Brake reservoir;

(ii) Control valve mounting gasket;

(iii) Pipe bracket stud;

(iv) Service portion;

(v) Emergency portion; or

(vi) Pipe bracket.

(5) A car is found with one or more of the following wheel defects:

(i) Built-up tread, unless known to be caused by hand brake left applied;

(ii) Slid flat wheel, unless known to be caused by hand brake left applied; or

(iii) Thermal cracks.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, each car shall receive a single car air brake test no less than every 5 years.

(d) Each car shall receive a single car air brake test no less than 8 years from the date the car was built or rebuilt.

(e) A single car air brake test shall be performed on each new or rebuilt car prior to placing or using the car in revenue service.

[66 FR 39688, Aug. 1, 2001, as amended at 73 FR 61553, Oct. 16, 2008; 74 FR 25174, May 27, 2009]