Code of Federal Regulations Title 49. Transportation 49 CFR § 1201.3-1 3–1 [1201.3–1] Items to be charged

(a) The accounts provided for maintenance of road property and of equipment are designed to show the cost of repairs and also the loss through depreciation of the property used in transportation operations, including expenses resulting from ordinary wear and tear of service, exposure to the elements, inadequacy, obsolescence, or other depreciation, or from accident, fire, flood, or other casualty.

(b) These accounts shall include the cost of labor, materials and supplies, work-train service, floating equipment work service, special machine service, contract work, privileges, protection from casualties, and other analogous items of expense in connection with the maintenance of the plant used in railway service. The cost of materials and supplies, which shall include small tools, shall include the cost at the point of free delivery plus freight charges of foreign lines, and the costs of inspection and loading assumed by the carrier;  also a proportion of store expenses. Such costs shall not include expenses of transportation over the carrier's line. Royalties for patent rights on mechanical appliances used in repairs of equipment shall be included in the cost of the repairs. The cost of boarding, traveling, and other incidental expenses of employees shall be included in the accounts to which the pay of the employees is chargeable, except where otherwise specified in the text of the accounts. In calculating the cost of materials used proper allowance shall be made for the value of unused portions and of cuttings, turnings, borings, etc., and for the value of the material recovered from property repaired and from temporary tracks, scaffolding, cofferdams, and other temporary structures used in repair work.

(c) The cost of repairs shall include the cost of inspecting to determine the repairs necessary, and of adjusting or repairing parts, both of road property and of equipment, such as the repairing of locomotives, cars, frogs, switches, rails, etc.;  the cost of inspecting and testing after repairs have been made such as the testing of locomotives after repairs to determine whether the repairs have been properly made, and the running of repaired locomotives light in order to break them in for regular service;  incidental costs of repairs, such as the construction or removal of false work in connection with maintenance, cost of demolishing retired road property and disposing of the wreckage therefrom when the property is dismantled by or for the carrier;  cost of maintaining or protecting traffic during the progress of construction work, including the cost of constructing, maintaining and removing temporary tracks required for maintaining traffic during the progress of the work;  cost of mowing and beautifying grounds around buildings;  repairing fences, sidewalks, driveways, and streets within or adjacent to such grounds;  cost of removing snow from roofs of buildings (when not removed by those employed in the buildings);  cost of periodical restorations of seasonal features, such as gardens, shrubbery, and lawns;  cost of operating hothouses in connection with the work of beautifying grounds;  and cost of clearing and removing casual incumbrances, such as ice, snow, and fallen timber.

(d) An employee's job classification shall not govern the accounting for work performed. Charges to a particular expense function shall be based on the nature of the work performed.