DOT enhances first responder training for crude-by-rail accidents

The U.S. Transportation Department has released a web-based Transportation Rail Incident Preparedness and Response (TRIPR) training resource for emergency responders to crude oil train derailments.    The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has released its web-based Transportation Rail Incident Preparedness and Response (TRIPR) training resource, which provides emergency responders with critical information and best practices related to rail incidents involving Hazard Class 3 Flammable Liquids such as crude oil and ethanol.  
   “This off-the-shelf training is available online and can be used anywhere throughout the country,” the agency said.
   “TRIPR is the result of a concerted effort between federal agencies and rail safety stakeholders to improve emergency response organizations’ ability to prepare for and respond to rail incidents involving a release of flammable liquids like crude oil or ethanol,” said PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez in a statement. 
   TRIPR was developed in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and includes input from the rail carriers and industry experts, the agency added.
   “Some of the most important actions we have taken during the last two years to increase the safety of transporting crude oil by rail have been providing more resources, better information and quality training for first responders. This web-based training is another tool to help first responders in communities large and small, urban and rural quickly and effectively respond if a derailment happens,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg.
   TRIPR focuses on hazmat response functions and includes three “animated training scenarios” along with introductory videos to assist instructors. Each module contains a PowerPoint presentation, student workbook and instructor lesson plan. PHMSA plans to host a series of open houses throughout the country to promote the TRIPR curriculum.
   DOT has taken several dozen actions to increase the safety of energy products transported by rail in the last two years. In 2015, the department released its comprehensive rule for the safe transportation of crude oil by rail. The rule requires stronger tank cars and a new brake system that “activates simultaneously on all tank cars, reduces the distance and time needed for a train to stop, and keeps more tank cars on the track if a train does derail,” the department said. 
   DOT has also required that railroads transporting crude oil notify state emergency response commissions (SERCs) of the movement of crude oil through individual states. Last summer, DOT said it would make the requirement for railroads to notify SERCs of the expected movement of Bakken crude oil trains permanent.