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• 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 ExampleKey characteristics:•Placard color•Hazard class•UN number

Ethanol PlacardingEthanol

ConcentrationPreferred Proper Shipping Name

E1 to E10Gasohol, UN 1203 or

Gasoline, UN 1203

E11 to E94 Ethanol and Gasoline mixture, UN 3475

E95 to E99Denatured Alcohol, NA 1987 or

Alcohols n.o.s., UN 1987

E100Ethanol, 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