CHEMTREC Launches Programs to Benefit Rail Safety, First Responders

April 16, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

The Dow Chemical Co. and CHEMTREC are working together on the Dow Chemical Co. Railcar Shipment Visibility Initiative, which is a full-scale demonstration project to enhance railcar tracking and information sharing between the two organizations.

The system is touted as enabling surveillance of highly hazardous materials in transit and enabling enhanced communications for emergency responders nationwide to protect the safety and security of the communities through which these materials are transported.

Dow and CHEMTREC are committed to reducing chemical safety and security risks associated with transportation incidents by providing streamlined access to the critical data associated with chemical shipments to ensure the right approach is executed in the event a transportation incident occurs, said CHEMTREC.

This project equips Dow's existing toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) material railcar fleet with global positioning systems (GPS) and sensor technologies to allow electronic monitoring of the location and condition of rail cars and their contents.

Through this program, outlined in a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations, CHEMTREC will have access to a newly created web-based network that will supplement CHEMTREC's existing communications network to make data available to emergency responders through CHEMTREC in the event an incident occurs involving Dow shipments of TIH materials.

"Track-and-trace for shipment visibility is one important facet of Dow's comprehensive integrated approach to chemical security that focuses on risk management and emergency preparedness," said Henry Ward, director of transportation safety and security at Dow.

"Technology plays a critical role in data generation and information sharing and this collaboration with CHEMTREC is an opportunity to utilize best practices to advance emergency preparedness and response practices to benefit our national security and to help protect local communities."

CSX Transportation Inc. (CSXT) and CHEMTREC also launched a program designed to provide more information to emergency responders during a rail-related hazardous materials incident. The program provides CHEMTREC's staff of emergency service specialists with direct access to CSXT's Network Operations Workstation (NOW).

This secure system uses a combination of technologies to graphically identify the location of a train anywhere on CSXT's 21,000-mile network. These tools provide CHEMTREC's staff with a web-based, visual display of the train and its location, the location of rail cars within the train and the contents of each rail car.

Should a CSXT rail-related hazardous materials incident occur, CHEMTREC said it would combine this information with its massive database of material safety data sheets and its ability to put responders in direct contact with manufacturers, shippers, product experts, toxicologists, chemists and physicians, creating an unparalleled resource for emergency responders. All of these resources are instantly available by dialing CHEMTREC's toll-free emergency phone number.

Source: Chemical Transportation Emergency Center (CHEMTREC).