in effect
This is a correction notice from the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), not a new rule. It fixes a printing/text error in an already-published final rule about shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail. The fix applies to one part of the regulation covering the thickness of steel plates used in rail tank cars.
It replaces lines 24 through 30 in section 179.400-8 (“Thickness of plates”) as they appeared on page 26459 of the June 23, 2025 Federal Register. The corrected text states that, after forming, the outer jacket shell must have a minimum wall thickness of at least 7/16 inch. The outer jacket heads (the end caps) must be at least 1/2 inch thick and must be made from the steel specified in section 179.16(c). No deadlines, fees, or other requirements are changed by this notice — it only restates these thickness figures correctly.
The main parties are the manufacturers, owners, and operators of the rail tank cars built to carry LNG, who must build or verify these cars against the corrected thickness specifications. Regulators applying or inspecting against this standard are also affected, since they now have the accurate wall-thickness numbers to enforce.