Rail Tank Car Containment - Star Track- Rail Containment
Rail Tank Car Containment
The primary purpose of EPA Rail Containment regulations is the protection of the nation’s streams, rivers, and ground waters from pollution. But compliance with EPA regulations is only one reason for providing collection capabilities to rail heads, headers, and rail spurs. Many companies who choose to address Rail Containment are just as concerned about protection from liability, mess control, and preservation of building and land values. Therefore, having a Rail Tanker Containment system in place is vital when loading, unloading, and storing Fuels, Hazardous Materials, and other Liquids. The pro-active approach to the potential for spills to occur in your Rail Yard can keep minor releases from becoming major problems.
Depending on your usage and application we offer multiple approaches:
The Quick and Convenient Solution: The Stinger Rail Soft Berm is a hand carried, coated fabric berm with foam walls, which can be easily lifted into place under a rail tanker’s belly header to collect and transport small spills that may occur while coupling and uncoupling for the Header. Two people can easily place the Stinger Rail soft Berm in the center space between the rails, with an out rigger extension extending over the near side rail to form a two compartment catchment surface approximately 4’ wide by 6’long. As the primary catchment berm begins to fill, the captured material flows over the near rail into the outrigger containment berm. In case a larger spill should occur, the outrigger containment berm has been designed with two hose couplings, “CAM-LOC” fittings (2” or 4” dia.). Hose can now be attached to convey the excess spilled material to a safe holding area. Don’t take a chance when coupling up to the belly header, always have a Rail Soft Berm tanker containment system in place.
For permanent applications, i.e. Rail Yards, permanent headers, rail spurs dealing with regular shipments of Fuels, Chemicals, and other Hazardous Materials, we recommend the StarTrack® rail containment pan system: Each set of pans consists of a center pan (between the rails) and two outrigger pans. Together the three pans provide spill collection coverage for an area of track 20’ long by 10’ wide.
StarTrack tanker containment rail pans can be quoted in both standard isophthalic resin pan sets AND the “upgraded” vinyl ester resin pan sets (used with aggressive chemicals). There is also a Steel Pan option, supplied with a heavy fiberglass protective coating. Please understand this is a surface mounted system, so unless you’re installing a plumbing system, there should be no disruption of the existing track bed, rail ties, or tracks. Note: If you’re installing the Manifold system to drain the pans to one side of the tracks you would be required to remove the gravel base from between two ties down to about 15″ to 18″ deep. Depending on the number of 20’ StarTrack rail pans, you would need at least one Manifold system installed per StarTrack rail pan section. Once the drain manifolds are set the excavated space would be backfilled with pea gravel, burying the manifold below the grade of the rail ties. Manifold come in 4”, 6”, and 8” diameters and are designed to transport liquids (including rainwater) from the rail pans to a collection pipe running parallel rails along one side of the track. The collection pipe in turn transports the liquids to a collection pond for optimal rail containment.
Unless these pans are plumbed via a collector pipe to an adequate holding pond, this set of pans will only provide for “incidental” spill containment up to 250g in the center pan and approximately 125g each in the outrigger pans. If you want more information on how to plumb these pans to achieve true secondary tanker containment for your rail yard, please don’t hesitate to call our offices, or e-mail me the address listed below.
