Tougher steel fights coal car corrosion

摘要

Railroads are turning to utility stainless steel to get more life out of coal cars in eastern service. Passage of the Clean Air Act put low-sulfur Western coal in the spotlight, but there still is plenty of demand for Eastern coal, much of which moves by rail. Eastern coal is much harder on the equipment used to transport it for two reasons. Eastern coal contains higher levels of both sulfur and moisture, an unfriendly combination for the mild carbon steel used to build most eastern coal cars.