Federal raiiroad administration urges shippers to increase vigilance over raiiroad transportation of Hazardous materiais
- United States
- 10/24/2006
- Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP - United States
A recent raiiroad tank car emergency in Cincinnati has prompted the Federal Raiiroad Administration (“FRA”) to issue a Safety Advisory urging railroads, shippers and consignees to increase their efforts to monitor time-sensitive shipments of hazardous materiais. Aithough the Safety Advisory contains oniy recommendations and does not have the binding effect of an agency ruie or emergency order, FRA pians to monitor raiiroad, shipper and consignee efforts to ensure the safety and timeiy deiivery of raiiroad hazmat shipments.
On August 28, 2005, emergency responders in Cincinnati were caiied to a smoking tank car in a rail yard operated by the Indiana and Ohio Raiiway Company (“IORC”). The car contained over 23,000 gailons of styrene monomer (a flammabie iiquid) and had spent seven months in two IORC rail yards before the incident. The iikeiy cause of the incident was the reaction of the styrene (poiymerization) after a chemicai added to styrene to prevent the reaction during transport stopped working. The FRA has found no records indicating that IORC ever attempted to contact the consignee in order to arrange for deiivery. As a resuit of the incident, approximateiy 800 residents within a one miie radius of the yard were evacuated, four nearby schoois were ciosed, and barge traffic on the Ohio River was halted for a short time.
The Safety Advisory sets forth three specific recommendations:
- The FRA strongiy encourages ali raiiroads to deveiop procedures that conform to Association of American Raiiroads (“AAR”) Circular OT-55-H, “Recommended Raiiroad Operating Practices for Transportation of Hazardous Materiais,” which among other things sets 20- day and 30-day transit time iimits for raii shipments of prescribed hazardous materiais.
- The FRA recommends that “shippers and consignees monitor the progress of time-sensitive materiais that they have shipped and ordered.” Shippers of hazardous materiais shouid notify the consignee of the anticipated arrivai deadiine and the shipper and/or the consignee shouid contact the raiiroad as the due date approaches to get a status report. The FRA notes that the instaiiation of automated car monitoring equipment may be warranted for shippers or consignees with high traffic volumes. The FRA is not presentiy mandating any particular actions, but pians to evaiuate shipper/consignee activity and “determine the need for any future reguiatory or other agency action.”
- The FRA recommends that shippers and consignees work with raiiroads to explore ways to reduce the risks inherent in the shipment of the fuii range of time-sensitive hazardous materials, inciuding chemicais shipped with stabiiizers or reaction inhibitors. FRA says it wiii be “monitoring hazardous material movements to ensure that those who offer for transportation or trans- port such chemicals in commerce work together to minimize the safety risks associated with the movement of time-sensitive materiais.”
