HQ 081691: Classification of Railway Freight Car Body

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                                     HQ 081691

                                   January 18, 1989

            CLA-2:CO:R:C:G  081221 JAS

            CATEGORY:   Classification

            TARIFF NO.: HTSUS 8606.99.00

            R. Christian Berg, Esq.
            Harris & Berg
            1101 30th. St. N.W., Suite 103
            Washington, D.C. 20007

            RE: Classification of Railway Freight Car Body

            Dear Mr. Berg:

                Under the authority of 19 U.S.C. 1516(a), and section
            175.1, Customs Regulations, you request information on the
            classification and rate of duty on an imported component of an
            intermodal railway car known as the "front runner."

            FACTS:

                When complete, the front runner is a stand-alone railway
            freight car specially designed to carry 40 ft. and 48 ft. truck
            trailers.  The completed car is a single platform lightweight
            car, designated by the Association of American Railroads as AAR
            Class FC.  This car is pictured and described in The Car and
            Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practices, 5th. ed. (1984),
            at p. 191.

                 The article in issue is a series of components welded
            together to form the car body.  It consists essentially of the
            central box section, to which other components are fabricated.
            The box section is a hollow welded steel unit, 51 ft. 2 in.
            long, with gussets at each end, which forms the backbone of the
            car.  This welded unit rests on top of and is attached at both
            ends to rectangular steel supporting units, open at one end.
            At the rear or A-end of the car are two steel outrigger
            platforms situated on either side of the box section that run
            half its length.  These platforms are attached to the
            rectangular supporting units.  The wheels of the truck trailers
            will rest on the outrigger platforms.  Steel axle/wheel
            housings are welded on either side of the box section in front
            of the outrigger platforms.  At the opposite or B-end of the
















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            car is a crossover platform for crewmen.  It is situated on
            either side of the box section and rests on the welded steel
            supporting units.  At the same end is a hydraulic stanchion
            (not the subject of this inquiry) on a supporting plate, to
            which is attached the front end of the truck trailer.  You
            state a number of nuts, bolts, washers, pins and other subsi-
            diary articles, listed but not described, are included in the
            importation.  It is indicated that the imported car body repre-
            sents 57 percent of the total value of the completed front
            runner car.

                After importation, brake assemblies, wheels, axles, yokes,
            roller bearings, trailer hitch, front and rear couplers and
            release rigging, and handrails, and some lesser components and
            fasteners, are added to complete the car.  These components
            represent 43 percent of the total value of the completed car.

            ISSUE:

                Is the front runner car body regarded for tariff purposes
            as an unfinished railway or tramway freight car, or is it
            classifiable under an applicable parts provision ?

            LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                Effective January 1, 1989, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule
            of the United States (HTSUS), replaced the Tariff Schedules of
            the United States (TSUS), as the official tariff code of the
            United States.  General Rule of Interpretation 2(a), HTSUS,
            states, in part, that any reference in a heading to an article
            shall be taken to include a reference to that article unfin-
            ished, provided that, as entered, the unfinished article has
            the essential character of the finished article.

            HOLDING:

                The fabricated front runner car body, as imported, consti-
            tutes an unfinished railway or tramway freight car, not self-
            propelled, of the type classifiable in subheading 8606.99.00,
            Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).  The
            rate of duty under this provision is 18 percent ad valorem.



                                        Sincerely,



                                        John Durant, Director
                                        Commercial Rulings Division