FMCSA Issues Intermodal Equipment Safety Rule

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he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an intermodal chassis safety proposal Thursday that includes provisions for more inspections and greater oversight of equipment.

The proposed rule would require intermodal equipment owners to register equipment, display identification numbers, establish inspection, maintenance and repair procedures and quickly respond to carrier complaints, according to the Federal Register notice.

FMCSA said the regulation “would ensure that intermodal container chassis and trailers tendered to motor carriers by steamship lines, railroads, terminal operators [and] chassis pools . . . comply with the applicable motor carrier safety regulations,” and that that equipment will “be subject to the same enforcement proceedings, orders and civil penalties” as standard motor carriers.

Congress had ordered FMCSA to publish the regulation as part the 2005 highway reauthorization.

“This rule will ensure the safety and the maintenance of the chassis traveling on our roadways,” FMCSA spokesman Ian Grossman told Transport Topics.