r/hazmat • u/CNSMaryland • 15d ago

Training/Tactics/Education New details about the risks of hazmat trains

A train derails and releases at least 1,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals in the U.S. about once every two months, according to a new investigation.

Photo illustration by April Quevedo

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, in collaboration with other newsrooms, conducted a nine-month investigation into the transportation of hazardous materials by rail. Here's what they found:

  • About once every two months, a train derails and spills at least 1,000 gallons of toxic, flammable or corrosive chemicals in the U.S. Nearly half of those derailments resulted in evacuations; a quarter resulted in a fire or explosion since 2015.
  • Many first responders, especially in small towns and rural areas, lack the necessary training and equipment to effectively respond to hazmat derailments. 
  • Trains carrying a lot of flammable material like petroleum or alcohol have to follow special safety rules that require slower operating speeds, the use of safer brake systems and tank cars and broader risk disclosure to state emergency response planners.
  • Over the last decade, federal safety regulators have called for the “high-hazard flammable train” rules to apply to trains carrying much smaller amounts of flammable material, citing catastrophic accidents.

Read the full investigation on cnsmaryland.org.

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism gives University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism students the opportunity to work with news organizations across the country to report stories of national or international importance.

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u/nickisaboss 15d ago

The trains in my town occasionally carry tanks of propylene oxide and ethylene oxide. We are the first town into the valley after about 20 miles of flat farmland. Our speed limit is 65 for trains, and drops down to like 20mph by the next town over.

So basically I regularly see these alkeneoxide cars just BOOKING it down the tracks. Scares the shit out of me.

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u/ODST05 15d ago

A train derails and releases at least 1,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals in the U.S. about once every two months

I'm sorry, what? As someone not from the US, that is wild.

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u/leucisticfred 1d ago

“Hazardous chemicals” is a very broad description, unfortunately. That could be anything that’s required to be placarded, which is a LOT of materials.