Transcript Rail Car 101 - Renewable Fuels Association

Rail Car 101
Objective
• Upon the completion of this module, participants
will be able to describe rail transport of
hazardous materials, focusing on denatured fuel
ethanol.
General Railroad Statistics
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•
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Hundreds of operating railroads in the U.S.
Tens of millions of railcar shipments each year
Over a hundred thousand miles of track in U.S.
Over a million railcars in service
Over a hundred thousand employees
Railroad Statistics for Hazmat
• Over a million loads of hazardous materials are
shipped via rail
• Ethanol is over a quarter of total number of
hazmat shipments
• About three-quarters of the transportation of
ethanol is conducted via rail
• Ethanol is over one percent of all railroad
shipments
Initial Noticeable Characteristics
http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/Hazmat/ERG2012.pdf
Tank Car Body Stencil
Tank Car End Stencil
Bottom Outlet Stencil
Placard Example
Key characteristics:
• Placard color
• Hazard class
• UN number
Ethanol Placarding
Ethanol
Concentration
E1 to E10
Preferred Proper Shipping Name
Gasohol, UN 1203 or
Gasoline, UN 1203
E11 to E94
Ethanol and Gasoline mixture, UN 3475
E95 to E99
Denatured Alcohol, NA 1987 or
Alcohols n.o.s., UN 1987
E100
Ethanol, UN 1170 or
Ethyl Alcohol, UN 1170
Brakes
• Hand
– Holds the car in place
– Prevents the tank car from moving and possibly
causing further damage at incident site or harm to
a responder
• Air
– If there is an incident, potential for a rapid release
of air causing the hose and fittings to strike a
responder
Hand Brake
Air Brake
Brake Cylinder
Double-Shelf Couplers
Coupler
Tank Car Wheels Separated from
Tank Car
Valves
Vacuum Relief
Top Operated Bottom Outlet
Valve
Bottom Outlet Valve
Butterfly
Manway
Top Ethanol NAR Causes/Issues
• Manway
–
–
–
–
Loose bolts
Gasket deteriorated/wrong type
Gasket misaligned
Gasket missing
• Bottom outlet valve
– Cap loose – Valve open
– Cap loose – Valve closed
Manway – Without Bolts
Manway – Loose Bolts
Additional Resources
• Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA)
– www.phmsa.dot.gov
• Federal Railway Administration (FRA)
– www.fra.dot.gov
• Association of American Rail Roads (AAR)
– www.aar.org
• Non-Accident Release Reduction Program (NAR)
– www.nar.aar.com