The Latest On Hazmats

What is a “hazmat?” 

A “hazmat” is an abbreviation for Hazardous Materials.  Hazardous materials are any substance that is explosive, flammable, toxic, corrosive, radioactive, or biological.  More than any other mode of transportation, hazmats are an extremely serious issue for railroaders at every level of operations or management. Not all chemical substances can be considered as hazmats, and many hazmats exist that are not chemicals. 

 

For example, sodium chloride is a chemical, but we use it every day as table salt.  Another example is printing ink, which is a chemical and is shipped by tank car to newspaper printing plants.   Any form of nuclear waste taken from a power generating plant is a hazmat although not quite defined as a chemical.  Liquidified Natural Gas (LNG) or Liquidified Propane Gas (LPG) could be classed as chemical compounds although they are not “pure” chemicals.  Yet, these are hazmats that could force an evacuation of a populated area, should there be a derailment. Transporting chemicals safely and securely by rail is expected to remain under the public spotlight.. 

There have been several major rail accidents in the last few years involving chemical spills and evacuations, some of which have raised concerns about the safety of the overall chemical industry.  The threat of terrorism involving hazardous material shipments also continues to dog the rail industry, and several public interest groups and lawmakers are calling for tougher rules. One chemical industry representative says that most major firms already have sophisticated security procedures in place but that many small producers are not as sophisticated and that this needs to change. 

Most chemical companies do not have the space available to handle all of their rail cars as the railroad comes into their plants.  So, in many cases, the cars are placed at some point outside the site, which might be a rail spur some distance away.  They will sit there until the company can bring them in.  At the minimum, those short on space need to have someone out there to inspect and accept the cars from the railroad. 

In many cases, the railroad does not own the cars that transport hazmats.  Private companies own them.  These companies lease these cars to their customers that use the railroad to ship liquid or gaseous chemicals, bulk powder or pellets, or other materials that qualify as hazmats.  All such cars have a color coded place card that tells you it is carrying a hazmat.  On this placecard is a large four digit number that tells you the name of the hazmat.  In this fashion, emergency response teams and railroad personnel can identify yje hazmat and take appropriate action if needed.  As a railfan, all you need to do is recognize that such a place card exists and report it to railroad security if you see or smell anything abnormal. 

What can we as railfans do to help the railroads minimize or eliminate the risk of a hazmat disaster?  Simply this …keep our eyes and ears open, have a cell phone that works, and know the railroad’s security reporting phone number as well as 911 for local authorities.  Here is what to look for: 

If you are at or near a railroad overpass or underpass and see any work going on, report it.  Note the location of the viaduct.  Look to see if you can spot any railroad or other maintenance vehicle present.  Railroad security should know if such work is for real or not.  Similarly, if you should see work in progress on tracks or switches, report it.  Sabotage of railroad right of way has been going on ever since the days of World War II.  Today’s terrorists have not lost their touch. 

When watching a passing train, keep your eyes and ears open.  If you hear a very loud blomp blomp blomp coming from a car, this tells you it has a severe flat spot on one of the wheels.  Discretion is the watchword here in detecting flat spots.  Most cars have minor flat spots but the ones to watch out for are the really loud ones.  A car having a severe flat spot could be the forerunner to a derailment, since this points to trouble with one of the axles.   

If you see any smoke or haze coming from one of the wheels, report it.  Most defect detectors will report overheating wheel journals but may not report sticking brakes.  Remember, there is no more caboose you can wave to or display the hotbox sign.  All you have is your cell phone. 

Listen for the sound of escaping air when you observe a passing train.  The air hose connectors on the brake pipe are made of composition rubber and metal to metal connectors.  They wear out over time and will leak.  Invariably, one of these defective air connectors will fail, causing an emergency application of brakes throughout the entire train.  Depending on the circumstances, this could cause a derailment 

Tank cars and bulk chemical cars also leak.  If you are photographing trains in an accessible area such as a grade crossing or open field and you smell a chemical or petroleum compound, report it both to the railroad and to 911.  It will be up to the railroad to stop the train and for public safety officials to trace the source of the leak.  If your vigilance has averted a fire or explosion, you will have done your job well.  You probably won’t get a medal for your effort, but the injuries and disaster evacuations you save will go a long way indeed.

About The Author

Bob Carper is a veteran information systems consultant. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Illinois and a MBA from Pitt. For additional information go to
http://www.secure-webconference.citymax.com. His blogsite is http://www.bobcarper99.wordpress.com.  You may also contact him at robertcarper06@comcast.net 

Tags: Bob-Carper, bobcarper99, derailments, flammable-materials, hazardous-materials, hazardous-substances, hazmats, homeland-security, protecting-railroads, radioactive-materials, reporting-defects, reporting-suspicious-activity, tank-cars, toxic-materials