Aerial photograph of derailment site, courtesy of the NTSB.

East Palestine: NTSB Examining Tank Car Hatch Covers

Following the completion of damage assessment inspections of the 11 Norfolk Southern (NS) hazardous materials (hazmat) tank cars, including the five carrying vinyl chloride, that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says it is “concerned that aluminum protective housing covers on some tank cars melted or were consumed when pressure relief devices (PRDs) vented burning gas while functioning as designed to relieve tank pressure.”

White House Senior Advisor Mitch Landrieu (left) and former Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Howard R. “Skip” Elliott will speak at ASLRRA’s Annual Conference & Exhibition next month.

Now on the ASLRRA Conference Lineup: Mitch Landrieu, Skip Elliott

White House Senior Advisor Mitch Landrieu and former Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Howard R. “Skip” Elliott are featured speakers at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s (ASLRRA) Annual Conference & Exhibition, to be held April 2-4 in New Orleans, La.

FRA Administrator Amit Bose speaks about national rail safety initiatives at a FEMA-led press briefing.

FRA Announces New Hazmat Safety Initiative (Updated)

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on March 1 announced a national initiative for focused inspections on routes that carry high-hazard flammable trains (HHFTs) and other trains carrying large volumes of hazardous material (hazmat) commodities.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Dr. Robert C. Hampshire

USDOT: $1.7MM for SBIR Program

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Feb. 7 announced that it is now accepting proposals for funding ranging from $150,000 to $200,000 from its Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) to “spur research and commercialization of innovative transportation technologies in select research areas,” including the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

DOT-113C120W9 LNG tank car. Chart Industries photo

PHMSA: Special Permit Sought to Ship Cryogenic Ethane By Rail

Gas Innovations LNG Refrigerants Inc. is seeking authorization to transport cryogenic ethane via rail in DOT-113C120W9 and DOT-113C120W tank cars, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). PHMSA, in consultation with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), is reviewing the special permit application and requesting comments on it, since it “raises issues similar to the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail, a matter for which multiple rulemakings are currently pending at the agency.”

PHMSA Awarding $32.4MM for Hazmat Safety

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will distribute $32.4 million to states, territories and tribes for six hazardous materials safety grant programs in FY 2022.

Aerial view of the derailment scene.​​ (Photograph courtesy of Pike County Office of Emergency Management with overlay annotations by NTSB.)

NTSB: Loose Debris from Mudslide Probable Cause of CSX Derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently determined that the probable cause of a February 13, 2020, derailment of CSX Transportation (CSX) train K42911 on a railroad track that runs between a hillside and the Russel Fork River in Draffin, Ky., was loose mud, vegetation, sand, soil and rock from a mudslide that obstructed the track following excessive rain accumulation over several weeks.

(Photograph Courtesy of TrinityRail)

PHMSA Issues ‘International Harmonization’ Rule

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to harmonize U.S. laws with numerous international standards, including better alignment with Transport Canada’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations.

(Photograph Courtesy of TrinityRail)

PHMSA Eyes ‘Electronic Hazard Communication’

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the potential use of electronic hazard communication as an alternative to physical, paper-based documents.

PHMSA Issues $1MM Proposed Civil Penalty to Colonial Pipeline

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on May 5 issued a proposed civil penalty of $986,400 to Colonial Pipeline Company for “multiple probable violations of federal pipeline safety regulations stemming from an inspection of the company’s Control Room Management procedures.” A Notice of Probable Violation (NOPV) released to Colonial Pipeline “alleges that failures to adequately plan and prepare for a manual restart and shutdown operation contributed to the national impacts when the [Colonial] pipeline remained out of service after the May 2021 cyber-attack,” PHMSA reported.

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