Citation

Saat MR, Barkan CP. J. Hazard. Mater. 2011; 189(1-2): 62-68.

Affiliation

Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MC-250, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1243 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.01.136

PMID

21367523

Abstract

North America railways offer safe and generally the most economical means of long distance transport of hazardous materials. Nevertheless, in the event of a train accident releases of these materials can pose substantial risk to human health, property or the environment. The majority of railway shipments of hazardous materials are in tank cars. Improving the safety design of these cars to make them more robust in accidents generally increases their weight thereby reducing their capacity and consequent transportation efficiency. This paper presents a generalized tank car safety design optimization model that addresses this tradeoff. The optimization model enables evaluation of each element of tank car safety design, independently and in combination with one another. We present the optimization model by identifying a set of Pareto-optimal solutions for a baseline tank car design in a bicriteria decision problem. This model provides a quantitative framework for a rational decision-making process involving tank car safety design enhancements to reduce the risk of transporting hazardous materials.

Language: en