safety follow-ups

摘要

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has asked the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to investigate the optimum separation requirements between occupied locomotives and rail cars carrying hazardous materials, and to amend ?74.85 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) accordingly. The recommendation comes as a result of NTSB's investigation of the derailment of a Norfolk Southern (NS) train en route from Chicago to Sewaren, New Jersey in October 2006. The train consisted of a three-unit locomotive hauling three empty freight cars followed by 83 tank cars loaded with denatured ethanol. The derailment occurred as the train crossed the Beaver River railroad bridge in New Brighton, Pennsylvania; 23 tank cars derailed, some falling into the river, and 20 of them released ethanol. There was pollution of the river and surrounding soil and a fire ignited that burned for 48 hours. NS estimates that the total damages will come to $5.8m.