Safety Issue
The design tolerances during the construction of the underframe
and draft sill area may have been exceeded on some CQBY wagons. In
the case of the failed coupler on wagon CQBY 0118A, this was
evidenced by signs of biased wear on the coupler wear plate and
contributed to excessive hard contact and wear on the coupler draft
key and associated components, in particular the draft key retainer
pins and their split pins.
Safety actions taken
Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia has assessed the risks and
associated deficiencies with the Chinese manufactured draft key
retainer pins fitted to all CQBY series 1 and series 2 wagons. On
26 April 2007 Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia distributed a
safety alert through Maintenance Improvement Circular No
21/07 for the fitment of all CQBY wagons with Azee draft key
retainer pins to ensure a consistent rework/modification program is
achieved. Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia has distributed
this safety alert to all operators and maintainers of CQBY wagons
and includes a numeric fleet number checklist for repairers to
endorse by signature when these wagons have been refitted. Copies
of checklists are returned to Chicago Freight Car Leasing
Australias Wagon Asset Manager for audit and retention. The program
is continuing.
In the most recent addition to the CQBY fleet, Chicago Freight
Car Leasing Australia has fitted vertical pin type couplers to the
Mark IV version of these wagons.
Safety Recommendation
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommends that Chicago
Freight Car Leasing Australia take action to address this safety
issue.