Environmental risk analysis of hazardous material rail transportation.
An important aspect of railroad environmental risk management involves tank car transportation of hazardous materials. This paper describes a quantitative, environmental risk analysis of rail transportation of a group of light, non-aqueous-phase liquid (LNAPL) chemicals commonly transported by rail in North America. The Hazardous Materials Transportation Environmental Consequence Model (HMTECM) was used in conjunction with a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of environmental characteristics to develop probabilistic estimates of exposure to different spill scenarios along the North American rail network. The risk analysis incorporated the estimated clean-up cost developed using the HMTECM, route-specific probability distributions of soil type and depth to groundwater, annual traffic volume, railcar accident rate, and tank car safety features, to estimate the nationwide annual risk of transporting each product. The annual risk per car-mile (car-km) and per ton-mile (ton-km) was also calculated to enable comparison between chemicals and to provide information on the risk cost associated with shipments of these products. The analysis and the methodology provide a quantitative approach that will enable more effective management of the environmental risk of transporting hazardous materials.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1243 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: mohdsaat@illinois.edu.
Mohd Rapik
MR
Saat
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1243 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Charles J
CJ
Werth
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1243 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
David
D
Schaeffer
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA.
Hongkyu
H
Yoon
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1243 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Christopher P L
CP
Barkan
D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000191:economics*; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D011156:Population Density; D011890:Railroads / Q000191:economics*; D018570:Risk Assessment
D015386:Hazardous Substances
AAR; Association of American Railroads; CONUS-SOIL; Conterminous United States multilayer soil characteristics dataset for regional climate and hydrology modeling; DOT; Department of Transportation; ERG; Emergency Response Guidebook; Environmental cleanup; FRA; Federal Railroad Administration; GIS; HMTECM; Hazardous Materials Transportation Environmental Consequence Model; Hazardous material; LNAPL; NWIS; National Water Information System; PHMSA; Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; Rail transportation; Risk analysis; STB; Surface Transportation Board; TRAINII; TeleRail Automated Information Network; USGS; United States Geological Survey; geographic information system; light, non-aqueous-phase liquid