Haz-Mat Tank Cars

Placards are on sides and ends of railroad cars and highway vehicles carrying more than 500 pounds of hazardous material.  With modern communication systems, the responders know what material is in the car or vehicle and what material is best to control the fire, potential fire or spill.   John in Lansing, ILL

Tinplate Art posted:

A question for the rails on this forum: In this age of frequent and sometime deadly derailments of tank cars carrying a variety of hazardous materials, why doesn't the AAR or another regulatory agency require ALL tank cars, whether railroad or industry owned, to have a UNIFORM color coding for their contents? Since they have to be painted anyway, why not colors that would immediately be visible to haz-mat responders?

I thought that is what those colored placards with the appropriate code number is for, on every tank car.

Would it REALLY cost that much more to do this?

Darn right it would, especially when one substance is carried, then a few trips later a different substance is carried.

THANKS for your responses!         NOTE: It is my understanding that there is no such system in place at the present time.

Again, that's what those placards on EVERY tank car are for.

GOT IT and THANKS! (smile)

It especially makes economic sense when a car is used for multiple contents, as HOT WATER pointed out! I would imagine such cars would need a flushing treatment between different loads?

Tinplate Art posted:

It especially makes economic sense when a car is used for multiple contents, as HOT WATER pointed out! I would imagine such cars would need a flushing treatment between different loads?

Correct.

This question just caused me to notice that only tank cars carry placards on the railroads, even though there are dry hazmat items that could be shipped in boxcars or hoppers. So does all that stuff go over the road?

BTW Art, there aren't enough colors to cover all the different nasty product out there. Hazmats are divided into nine categories, then each has a number. Pay attention to the trucks when you're driving down the road, and you'll see a ton of them.

When my wife and I see unusual ones, she uses her phone to look them up. Saw one of these once. Pretty scary looking dead stuff!

I used to have a hazmat endorsement when I had my CDL. Only ever carried the stuff a couple times, thank God. Both were less than placard-able quantities, but I had to remember to stop at railroad crossings.

If you're really curious, Click Here.

There are some tank cars painted white with red or orange bands in the center. 

There are black tank cars with yellow or white bands in the center. 

There are some black tank cars with blue or white ends. 

Photos of these tank cars are available at rrpicturearchives or check videos on YouTube.

Andrew

The chemical company I work for ships sodium chlorate crystal in covered hoppers that are unloaded using a sparger system.  Chlorate is an oxidizer and I will assure every loaded or residue empty carries multiple placards with the correct UN number.

And with regard to chemical tank cars, we have cars in our fleet that are product specific because the product handled requires a specific kind of car.  We also have tank cars used for certain generic groupings of non-regulated products that can be “top loaded”; i.e. no cleaning required between one product and the next.

The OP’s color coding for products is an intriguing idea but, given the multitude of chemical products moving by rail you would either run out of color combinations or have color schemes so complex they would be too costly to maintain.

Placarding is simply the best visual method to denote the hazard class of the product in a tank car. Placards are inexpensive and easy to change out if necessary and the UN numbers on placards are universal.  The same hazard class product in an ISO in China will be the same UN number for the same product in the US, France or Brazil.  Placards can be read and understood by emergency responders regardless what their primary language is.

Curt

Curt,  In the mid-1970s we were primarily a haz-mat carrier.  If I remember correctly, there was an '800 number' that could be called for information about haz-mat cargo en route.  Possibly CHEM-TECH, or something like that.  Are you familiar with such an asset?  John in Lansing, ILL

John:

It’s Chemtrec in the US and Canutec in Canada.  Chemtrec is affiliated with the American Chemistry Council and Canutec with the Canadian Chemical Producers Association.

The law in the US and Canada requires hazmat shippers to have a 24 hour phone line where emergency responders can obtain information on the product and methods to address releases.  Most chemical companies opt to participate in Chemtrec and Canutec as both are fully staffed 24/7/365 and maintain large data bases that enable them to provide relevant product and remediation info to first responders.

Railcars operating in hazmat service will have yellow stickers applied to both sides of the car listing either the Chemtrec or Canutec 800 numbers.

Curt