SHERBORN, Mass. — The Firefighters Education and Training Foundation has added a DOT 113 cryogenic tank car, the type approved for movement of liquefied natural gas, to its Safety Train program. Acquisition of the one-of-a-kind training car was possible through a joint effort of the Federal Railroad Administration, which donated the car, and insight and guidance from the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. Both organizations realized the importance of training emergency responders for possible rail shipments of LNG following federal approval of such moves in 2020 [see “DOT releases final rule for transport of LNG by rail,” Trains News Wire, June 22, 2020].
The DOT 113 car is used to transport liquids at temperatures of minus-155 degrees to minus-423 degrees. It is a doubled-walled tank within a tank, similar to a Thermos bottle with insulation materials and vacuum in the space between the tanks. The piping between the two tanks is unlike that in any other tank car and must accommodate the low-temperature cryogenic liquid inside and the ambient temperatures outside.
The Safety Train’s car has been modified with a saddle box containing a pull-out tray with a 2-foot-by-3-foot cross section of a DOT 113 car, including the special insulation for the cryogenic liquids. The car was painted at Union Tank Car in Altoona, Pa.
The Foundation owns and operates three Safety Trains, which include the Dow Safety Train and two others that are used in a partnership with the Short Line Safety Institute. Each Safety Train has a consist of a classroom car, three different types of tank cars, and a flat car that carries examples of the protective housings and valves from all of tank cars in use today. The DOT 113 car will be part of a Safety Train that will travel along the rail corridors where LNG will be transported.
More information about the foundation and Safety Train program is available at thesafetytrain.org or sfytrain@meganet.net.
