Washington, D.C.-At a Dec. 14 public hearing, The Fertilizer Institute told the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration that it supports efforts to improve safety, but opposed the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Tank Car Committee proposal for changes to tank car design and railroad operation involving hazardous materials transportation. The AAR committee has recommended that the current anhydrous fleet be replaced with heavier cars to prevent a release of ammonia in the event of an accident. “TFI supports efforts to improve safety, but we have opposed the Tank Car Committee proposal for several reasons,” TFI said in a statement “Most notably, TFI feels that any tank car redesign should be postponed until physical test and analysis techniques are defined utilizing input from the Volpe Center study currently underway. We have questioned the validity of AAR’s historical performance-based statistical analysis as the basis for imposing a new tank car standard when a majority of the current anhydrous ammonia fleet is less than 11 years old.” TFI said no data has been presented to date that corroborates any inadequacies in the types of tank cars in ammonia service. Following the January 2003 Minot, N.D., train derailment that caused a deadly anhydrous spill, the industry has focused on improving non-accidental releases through improved valving, reduced intervals between safety valve requalification, enhanced loading and release, and enhanced training on the safe handling and security of ammonia to customers and first responders, TFI said. Specifically, TFI said any effort to improve top fittings must take into consideration operator access, weather conditions, personal protective equipment required, and access by emergency responders. As for tank car pressure, the use of double shelf couplers on hazardous material tank cars has improved the survivability of cars in a derailment, TFI said, recommending that PHMSA and FRA consider the requirement that all cars have double shelf couplers. Lastly, bearing sensors and on-board tracking would have to be equipped on all cars in a train to have a positive impact on safety, TFI said, arguing that on-board monitoring would not prevent an incident from happening. “TFI members have shown for many years a willingness to improve overall safety as demonstrated by our support for adoption of head shields, jacketing and double shelf couplers,” TFI said.
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