MINIMIZING DERAILMENTS OF RAILCARS CARRYING DANGEROUS COMMODITIES THROUGH EFFECTIVE MARSHALING STRATEGIES

Effective marshaling and buffering strategies can reduce the likelihood of special dangerous commodity (SDC) cars being involved in a train derailment. The objective of these strategies should be to minimize the probability that an SDC car is located in a potential derailment block, subject to external rail corridor characteristics that affect derailments. A procedure is developed for predicting derailments for different railcar positions in a train, on the basis of the point of derailment and the number of cars involved. The number of cars involved in each derailment is assumed to be a function of the train operating speed, the cause of derailment, and the number of cars following the point of derailment. Canadian rail accident data for the period 1980-1985 are used to calibrate a probabilistic expression of number of cars involved in derailments. The Canadian accident data base is also used to estimate point-of-derailment probabilities for different railcar positions and derailment causes. Alternative marshaling and buffering strategies for SDC railcars are evaluated using a combinatorial approach. The results of this analysis indicate that SDC car derailments can be reduced appreciably by considering the derailment potential of different positions along a train for various rail corridor conditions.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1245/1245-004.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=MINIMIZING+DERAILMENTS+OF+RAILCARS+CARRYING+DANGEROUS+COMMODITIES+THROUGH+EFFECTIVE+MARSHALING+STRATEGIES&author=F.+Saccomanno&author=S.+EL-HAGE&publication_year=1989
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1245, Transportation of Hazardous Materials 1989. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Saccomanno, F F
  • EL-HAGE, S
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 34-51
• Monograph Title: Transportation of hazardous materials 1989
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1245
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Databases; Derailments; Hazardous materials; Location; Minimization; Operating speed; Position fixing; Probability; Railroad cars; Railroad transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Probabilistic analysis
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• Old TRIS Terms: Buffering; Marshaling strategies
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00495488
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309049679
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 31 1990 12:00AM