The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), has issued a final rule amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The requirements codify certain items of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act) related to the safe transportation of flammable liquids by rail.
The new ruling amends the May 2015 final rule that included a new, enhanced tank car standard and an aggressive, risk-based retrofitting schedule for older tank cars carrying crude oil and ethanol. The new rule expands the requirements to use the enhanced tank car for shipping all flammable liquids, regardless of the length of the train. It also requires that all new tank cars be equipped with a thermal protection blanket, and that older tank cars retrofitted to the new design standard be equipped with top fittings protection and a thermal protection blanket.
In accordance with the FAST Act, the new ruling also mandates a modified phase-out schedule for older DOT Specification 111 tank cars transporting highly flammable liquids that is based on the type of product. When shipping highly flammable, unrefined petroleum products that require a certain level of packaging protection, the Act requires a faster phase out of the older tank cars.
The final rulemaking has been transmitted to the Federal Register for publication.