Hazardous Materials Rail Shipments: A Review of Emergency Response Information in Selected Train Documents

In November 2012, a train derailed in Paulsboro, New Jersey, releasing about 20,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, a hazardous material. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found, among other issues, that the supplemental information in the train’s documents on responding to emergencies involving vinyl chloride was inconsistent with and less protective than emergency response guidance in the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG). Congress included a provision in statute for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the differences between the emergency response information carried by trains transporting hazardous materials and the ERG guidance. This report examines (1) what emergency response information is carried on trains by selected railroads transporting hazardous materials and how responders use it, and (2) how selected railroads’ supplemental emergency response information compares to information in the ERG. GAO reviewed the ERG and other relevant literature and met with Department of Transportation (DOT) and NTSB officials, among others. GAO interviewed all 7 larger Class I railroads and 11 smaller Class II and III railroads that carried hazardous materials in 2015. GAO compared the supplemental emergency response information with ERG information for 72 frequently shipped hazardous materials from a nonprobability sample of train documents provided by 10 of the 18 selected railroads. GAO is not making recommendations. DOT and NTSB provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/681378.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  • http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/681377.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. Government Accountability Office

  441 G Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20548
• Publication Date: 2016-12-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 36p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disasters and emergency operations; Handbooks; Hazardous materials; Information dissemination; Railroad transportation; Railroads
• Identifier Terms: North American Emergency Response Guidebook
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Railroads; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01619016
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: GAO-17-130
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 21 2016 11:27AM