There’s a very low potential for derailment of trains as
they enter the Port of Vancouver USA, an extensive analysis of the port’s rail
infrastructure by rail safety organization has determined.
The study, commissioned by the port and completed by TÜV
Rheinland Rail Sciences, evaluated the derailment risk on about 3,000 feet of
rail track exiting the BNSF Railway mainline and entering the port.
The section of the port’s West Vancouver Freight Access
project is part of a new rail entrance to the port that, when complete in 2015,
is expected to reduce congestion on the regional rail system by as much as 40
percent. The track, with about half its length running parallel to the BNSF Railway
mainline, also flanks the waterfront redevelopment project proposed by a local
developer.
The study’s purpose was two-fold. First, the port wanted a
neutral, third-party safety evaluation of track that will serve as a
significant portion of the port’s main rail entrance beginning in 2015. Second,
the port asked TÜV Rheinland to offer recommendations on additional steps that
could be taken to make that section of track even safer.
In a March 25 oral report of the port’s commission, TÜV
Rheinland Rail Services Chief Operating Officer Sebastian Oertel summarized
their findings related to the port’s rail project as “above and beyond what we
see in the industry.”
The firm ran multiple simulations using the tracks’ geometry
data, operating speeds and train data for three different types of trains: a
grain train, an oil train and a potash train. Based on in-train force and
vehicle dynamics analyses, the study found that the “proposed operation and
track configuration is well within industry safety standards” with “a low risk
of derailment.”
The TÜV Rheinland Rail Services study is available at
http://www.portvanusa.com/assets/Connection-Track-Train-Operations-Study.pdf.
Plans are also underway to conduct a similar assessment of
the remainder of the port’s West Vancouver Freight Access project.
