Applying shunts

[Hoey6797]

I was wondering can and MOW employee shunt a track to take a plug of rail out or do you need a qualified signal person ? If an MOW person does it is it an FRA violation?

 

[Bob]

Why do you need to shunt it? For crossing signals? Or are you using the shunt to indicate track occupancy on the wayside signals?
We have a rule that anything to do with signals has to be done by a maintainer. If we’re pulling a rail and it’s going to make crossing signals go off, they shut things down at the bungalow, we do the work, and then they reactivate things. This is a railroad safety rule though, and maybe union related too, so I can’t speak to whether there’s an FRA rule regarding track shunts and who can apply them. Almost none of our work is in CTC, so I don’t have much experience there.

 

[Hoey6797]

Yes so the gates don’t go down. I was wondering if it was FRA rule That you had to be qualified to use shunts .

 

[Bob]

OK, yeah, sorry, I'm not a maintainer so I don't know the rules. I do know that in our case, the railroad prohibits it. There's a couple reasons for that. First of all, they only want signal maintainers doing any signal work. However, the second part is that they issue a "stop and protect" order for the crossing. So, let's say I go swap out a broken rail, but don't bond it. We can put the track back in service without having to wait for the signal crew to bond and test and re-activate. Basically, any time you do any work that affects a signal system, it has to be reviewed by the signal maintainers. Even if you bond the rail, it could change the resistance and affect the timing of the approach circuit sensors.
So, my suggestion is that before you worry about the FRA regs, you check with the operating railroad and their rules.