§ 238.131 - Exterior side door safety systems - new passenger cars and locomotives used in passenger service.

§ 238.131 Exterior side door safety systems - new passenger cars and locomotives used in passenger service.

(a) Safety systems for powered exterior side doors. All powered exterior side door safety systems in passenger cars, and connected door safety systems in locomotives used in passenger service, that are ordered on or after April 5, 2016, or placed in service for the first time on or after February 5, 2018, shall:

(1) Be built in accordance with APTA standard PR-M-S-18-10, “Standard for Powered Exterior Side Door System Design for New Passenger Cars,” approved February 11, 2011. In particular, locomotives used in passenger service shall be connected or interlocked with the door summary circuit to prohibit the train from developing tractive power if an exterior side door in a passenger car is not closed, unless the door is under the direct physical control of a crewmember for his or her exclusive use. The incorporation by reference of this APTA 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 American Public Transportation Association, 1666 K Street NW., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006 (telephone [phone]; www.apta.com). 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;

(2) Be designed based on a Failure Modes, Effects, Criticality Analysis (FMECA);

(3) Contain an obstruction detection system sufficient to detect and react to both small and large obstructions and allow the obstruction to be released when detected;

(4) Be designed so that activation of a door by-pass feature does not affect the operation of the obstruction detection system;

(5) Require a door control panel key or other secure device to activate a door control panel;

(6) Not be operated from a door control panel when the door control panel key or other secure device is removed; and

(7) Not be affected by the movement or position of the locomotive throttle. A train's throttle position shall neither open nor close the exterior side doors on the train.

(b) Safety system for manual and powered exterior side doors. All manual and powered exterior side door systems in passenger cars, and connected door safety systems in locomotives used in passenger service, that are ordered on or after April 5, 2016, or placed in service for the first time on or after February 5, 2018 shall be:

(1) Designed with a door summary circuit and so connected or interlocked as to prohibit the train from developing tractive power if an exterior side door in a passenger car is not closed, unless the door is under the direct physical control of a crewmember for his or her exclusive use;

(2) Connected to interior and exterior side door status indicators;

(3) Connected to a door summary status indicator that is readily viewable to the engineer from his or her normal position in the operating cab; and

(4) If equipped with a door by-pass device, designed so that the by-pass device functions only when activated from the operating cab of the train.

(c) Additional requirements. In addition to the requirements of this section, requirements related to exterior side door safety on passenger trains are provided in §§ 238.112, 238.133, 238.135, 238.137, and 238.439.

[80 FR 76147, Dec. 7, 2015]