Risk Analysis And Prevention Of Critical Events For Rail Freight Transport Of Dangerous Goods

According to data collected within EU-founded D-RAIL project, there are approximately 500 derailments per year, of which 7% (35 derailments) involve dangerous goods. For derailments involving dangerous goods environmental clean-up costs are well above 10M€ per year, not considering the costs associated to fatalities. And this is just about derailments but also other types of critical events such as impacts, fire and spillage. It is therefore of fundamental importance to analyse the risks associated to the freight transport of dangerous goods and to propose mitigation and prevention actions. In this paper, as a first step, in order to prevent, protect and mitigate the risks associated to freight transport of dangerous goods, primary and secondary causes of critical events are analysed and classified and possible measurements that could allow to prematurely detect these causes are proposed. This classification work has been based on available databases, both at European level and at national level. Then, as second step, existing devices for the assessment of the above measured quantities as well as maintenance procedures are reviewed also based on consolidated knowledge both in the field of railways and in that of road freight transport. Joining information about dangerous goods and corresponding critical areas (topic of the companion paper [1]) with available preventive measurement devices, a recommendation about additional actions, both in terms of prevention and maintenance, is proposed for freight vehicles transporting dangerous goods with the aim of reducing the associated risk.