Evaluation of Hazardous Material Transportation by Rail

by William H. Oderwald, ALK Associates, Inc, Princeton, United States,
Mary Anne Sontag, ALK Associates, Inc, Princeton, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: State and Local Issues in Transportation of Hazardous Waste Materials: Towards a National Strategy

Abstract:

ALK Associates Inc. of Princtron, NJ has developed a computer model, the Rail Hazardous Materials Routing System, which provides historical accident rate and population exposure statistics for rail routes under study for the purpose of transporting hazardous materials. This system is used by shippers, receivers and manufactures of hazardous materials to evaluate current and proposed rail routings. The four major components of the Rail Hazardous Materials Routing system are the Princeton Transportation Network Model (PTNM) a computer based transportation network and geographic information and mapping system, the yearly Federal Rail Administration Accident/Incident Files, aggregated traffic statistics from the Interstate Commerce Commission Carload Waybill Sample, and census information from the Department of Commerce. This paper will describe the application of the three data bases to the PTNM along with an explanation of the function and philosophy of the PTNM. This method of analyzing hazardous material movements by rail can be extended to other transportation modes, and is discussed in this paper.

Subject Headings: Rail transportation | Hazardous substances | Computer models | Traffic safety | Routing (transportation) | Traffic accidents | Mathematical models

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