Risk Analysis of Stationary Rail Cars Containing Hazardous Materials; A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the risks associated with stationary rail cars carrying hazardous materials (Hazmat) in railway stations. This study considers risk analysis of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage cars queued in Sarakhs Railway Station in Iran. The congestion of LPG cars at station may lead to some incidents which can endanger people and cause damages to the properties and the environment, etc. This paper analyzes the consequence of any accident involving LPG at a railway station using Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) model. Part of the aim of this study is to estimate population exposed in cease of accident using ALOHA, MARPLOT and GIS. Main required information of this survey includes LPG transportation data, GIS, population statistics. The result of this study shows that more than 3500 people could be affected in the worst case scenario. Therefore, the recommendation is to reduce the stopping time of LPG cars in Sarakhs railway station.