AAR Petitions DOT to Adopt New Railroad Tank Car Safety Standards for Packaging Group I and II Materials

摘要

Change does not occur overnight, it is an evolutionary process as human society "tames " the design, construction, and maintenance of a tank to minimize, and potentially prevent, any identifiable release of product from the tank to the environment. For more than 40-years, the railroad transportation industry has collected information with respect to tank damage. This information has been exceedingly useful in detect- ing the causes of tank failure, aligning industry and government research to address such causes, and developing and issuing industry standards, including government regulations, to prevent such causes; thereby, improving the crashworthi-ness of the tank. As PHMSA progresses the rulemaking, the railroad transportation community should consider the improved safety record that the industry may achieve by adoption of the AAR petition, and it should also consider the costs associated with tank car ownership, leases, and the inspection and repair of such tanks. PHMSA welcomes both positive and negative comments so that all aspects of the proposal have due consideration.