The Federal Railroad Administration has recently become aware that the window exits on passenger rail cars have not been operating as they should be. When pulled, the emergency handle becomes detached from the window gasket. In some cases the gasket was difficult to remove or just broke into several pieces.
Upon investigation, it became clear that some railroads did not fully understand or were just not following the federal regulations on inspection, testing, and maintenance of the window exits. Railroads are supposed to use the sampling method that conforms with a formalized statistical test method.
FRA does not feel that this issue would have impacted the passenger’s ability to open the window in an emergency.
FRA is publishing this notice in an effort to remind passenger train operators of the existing regulatory requirements on inspecting, testing, and maintenance of the window exits.
