Authors: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Date of Publication:  March 1980

Sponsoring Agency:  U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Performing Organization:  U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Report No: NTSB-HZM-80-1

Abstract:

The derailment of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company freight train near Paxton, Texas on September 8, 1979, provided the Safety Board with the opportunity to examine the effectiveness of tank car safeguards during a derailment.  Reconstruction of the accident damage sequence showed that safeguards did, in fact, reduce the potential for a spill and catastrophic overheating of thermally coated cars.  It was also observed that damage to the top fittings and lower outlet valves, which occurred when cars collided with each other and with other objects after they left the track, was the most frequent cause of product loss.

The Safety Board made recommendations to the Department of Transportation concerning the extension of safeguard requirements to all types of tank cars; modification of cars to revent collision damage to top fittings and lower outlet valves; investigation of the effect of car placement in collisions; and crashworthiness testing of new tank car designs.
 

No. of Pages:  25