New Safety Regs for Oil Rail Cars
Due to new safety regulations, the freight rail industry will be phasing out older oil-transporting rail cars (so-called DOT-111 tank cars) in the coming years. New cars built after 2015 must comply with the new DOT-117 safety standard. Older cars may be retrofitted to meet the new standard at a cost of about $30,000 per car. This will be a considerable undertaking since DOT-111 cars comprise about 70% of the current fleet.
New or upgraded cars will feature a number of safety improvements including:
- 9/16-inch shell thickness,
- Electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, and
- Increased rollover protection.
Align Production Systems offers a number of manufacturing-automation solutions for makers of rail cars and locomotives. They include:
- Airfloat assembly transporters (with or without line-following capability) for moving assembly lines for 75-ton passenger rail cars and 150-ton locomotives,
- Airfloat shuttles for indexing 500-ton locomotives between spray paint booths,
- Airfloat transporters with telescopic lifts for attaching 7.5-ton locomotive cabs to the rest of the locomotive,
- Silvestrini headstock and tailstock positioners for lifting and rotating passenger rail cars,
- Silvestrini headstock and tailstock positioners for the manufacture of “bogies” (or wheel assemblies), and
- Silvestrini torque testing platforms for passenger rail cars.
Most of these solutions “pay” for themselves after just a year or two due to increased production. For instance, one maker of locomotives increased output from 17 to 22 locomotives per month – a 29% gain.
For more information, email sales@alignprod.com or call 800.888.0018 to discuss your application.
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