SAFETY REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF SAFETY MODIFICATION OF RAILROAD TANK CARS CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

As a direct result of Safety Board efforts, the Department of Transportation in 1978 adopted an accelerated schedule for retrofitting tank cars carrying hazardous materials with safety equipment to protect against tank-head puncture and thermal rupture in accidents. One of the Safety Board's safety objectives during FY 1979 was to monitor the retrofit program to see that the safety modifications are completed as soon as possible. Review and monitoring of the tank car safety retrofit program indicate that: (1) The shelf coupler retrofit for DOT 112/114 tank cars was virtually completed within 6 months of the announcement of the accelerated schedule; (2) Headshields are not being retrofitted as rapidly as possible; (3) As a result of retrofit problems and the structure of the regulations, headshield installations on more than 1,000 tank cars may be delayed up to 1 year; (4) Shelf couplers and/or headshields performed effectively in protecting against tank-head puncture in two derailments investigated by the Safety Board in FY 1979; (5) On one recommendation, the Department of Transportation has exceeded the statutory time limit on responding to Safety Board recommendations; and (6) The Federal Railroad Administration agrees that DOT 105 tank cars should also be equipped with shelf couplers, but is unnecessarily delaying rulemaking action.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Evaluations and Safety Objectives
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1979-9-13

Media Info

• Pagination: 24 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Building; Couplers; Crash investigation; Derailments; Facilities; Hazardous materials; Head; Heat insulating materials; Installation; Protection; Railroads; Regulations; Safety; Safety engineering; Safety equipment; Safety hats; Specifications; Standards; Tank cars; Vehicle design
• Uncontrolled Terms: Head shields; Requirement; Safety standards
• Old TRIS Terms: Government regulations; Protectors; Shelf couplers; Tank car design; Tank car heads
• Subject Areas: Construction; Design; Law; Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00312548
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/SR-79/2
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 7 1980 12:00AM