Waste-by-Rail
Railroads: Requirements of Hauling Waste
Railroad requirements seem tough but generally are limited to a shipper’s compliance to a set of Federal, State, local and railroad rules and regulations. Becoming educated on rules, regulations and processes ahead of time will ensure that your experience moving waste in bulk is a successful one.
Darell Luther
Waste in most any form has moved traditionally in a truck from collection directly to the landfill. However, in the early 1990s rail transfer of municipal solid waste broke ground at Seattle’s Alaska Street Transfer Station. This is the time and place where you’d find the introduction of running daily “trash” trains transporting intermodal containers on 50 to 60 railcars each day hauling that trash from the city to the Columbia Ridge Landfill site at significant cost gains for the city. That business continues today.
Moving Waste
If one looks at the Portland Metro 2006 – 2007 Solid Waste and Recycling Year in Review, you’ll see that Metro’s two transfer stations trucks delivered 18,480 truckloads of “waste” from Portland, OR to Gilliam County 150 miles west to the Columbia Ridge Landfill. Rail at this time isn’t part of their transportation equation.
If you keep digging and head to the east coast you’ll find the Solid Waste Management Plan for New York City passed in 2006 emphasizing the minimization of traffic congestion and truck emissions in the city. A focus going forward: hauling municipal solid waste by rail to various disposal sites in the east and even to locations in the Midwest. Today, much of that waste now moves via rail to a host of regional landfills.
So what makes moving waste from a next door landfill to one a few hundred miles away economical? In many cases, current landfills are running out (or have run out) of permitted airspace and the response of local citizens is often negative to increased landfill use in their neighborhoods. Waste-to-energy plants for the same waste streams are generally met with similar resistance due to the unpopular nature of having a waste facility in a more residential area. Further compounding local landfill efforts is real estate costs and social and environmental impacts on local communities.
In the early 1990s there were a few waste truck-to-rail transfer locations and subsequent waste trains. This changed dramatically in the mid 2000s where a significant number of municipalities jumped on the bandwagon as landfills closed and social pressure caused municipalities to explore other options. In response to the surge, railroads developed rules and regulations governing the transport of waste and other non-hazardous and hazardous commodities.
Railroad Requirements
“In the beginning” railroads only had a slightly better idea of the transport requirements of waste than the shipper. The waste commodities were new to the railroad transport industry and the nature of the product put the fear of liability into many railroads. Railroads were quick to adapt Federal and State mandated standards for waste handling and transport. One can find the Federal and State transfer of liability to the shipper and receiver in each railroad tariff.
Railroads manage the shipment of commodities by seven-digit Standard Transportation Commodity Code (STCC). Waste is broken into three general classifications. STCC numbers 28-197-XX which covers radio-active or nuclear chemicals, 40-xxx-xxx which covers most non-hazardous and non-radio-active commodities such as ash, waste or scrap, soil, debris, low-level radioactive contaminated soil, municipal solid waste, construction and demolition debris, municipal garbage waste, automobile shredded residue, and sewage sludge and 48-xxx-xxx which covers hazardous waste materials.
As with any railroad tariff, governing industry rules and regulations for shipping waste on a railroad clearly convey that the following are all the sole responsibility of the company shipping or receiving the waste:
The prior gathering and transportation of the commodity to the origin rail loading point;
The trans-loading of the commodity to and from railcars at the origin and destination;
The tendering of Bills of Lading and other necessary information;
The transportation of the commodity from the railroad destination to the designated landfill or disposal facility;
The lawful disposal of the commodity at the designated landfill or disposal facility;
The sole selection of the designated facility;
The ownership of the commodity
Railroad tariffs, industry rules and regulations also convey that railroads are only responsible for the rail transportation of the commodity to the destination. Railroads deal with liability every day due to the nature of commodities they transport and are especially concerned with the shipment of waste type commodities due to contingent liabilities. After getting the commodity to the origin loading site a customer is responsible for loading the commodities in compliance with the loading rules of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and applicable federal and state loading and handling rules. The AAR rules are vast and cover loading of containerized, baled and bulk commodities onto and in various types of railcars. These rules can be found on the AAR operations Web site at www.railinc.org.
Preparing Railcars
Railroads place the sole responsibility of tendering railcars and containers to the railroad on the shipper. All equipment must be in mechanical compliance. There can be no mechanical defects or safety hazards such as bulging sides, improper securing of lids on containers, and improper securing of tarps and covers to railcar safety appliances. The repair and maintenance of said railcars and containers are the shipper’s responsibility for privately owned railcars and containers and the railroad’s responsibility for railroad owned equipment. As an aside, railroads generally require shippers to provide private railcar equipment when shipping waste commodities as defined above. If, on the odd chance that you, as a shipper, get a railroad provided railcar that isn’t in mechanical compliance, reject it back to the railroad. Do not load a non-compliant railcar because you still retain the responsibility for commodity leakage or spillage even if it isn’t your railcar.
Many shippers don’t have access to origin scales. Despite this fact the responsibility of matching the lading weight to the gross weight on rail of the railcar is the shipper’s responsibility. If you overload a railcar, the railcar will be set out at the first place of convenience for the railroad and you will have the option of trans-loading (depending on the commodity) a sufficient amount of the commodity to another railcar to bring the railcar gross weight on rail back into compliance with the railroad requirements or the railroad will send the railcar back to the origin to be trimmed to the correct weight. Both are expensive options as the railroad will charge you for your mistake.
The last sequence of operating events is to unload and decontaminate the railcar. You guessed it—this responsibility also lies with the shipper or commodity owner. If a railcar is contaminated by a commodity, the shipper shall be responsible for cleaning or decontaminating the railcar before tendering it back to the railroad. Federal, State and local laws including the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Department of Transportation and EPA regulations govern certain requirements for unloading and decontamination of railcars. The list is somewhat vast due to the nature of the commodities potentially transported.
Insurance
Due to the nature of the commodities transported most railroads require a minimum Commercial General Liability policy of no less than $10 million per occurrence for injury, death, damage, etc. Waste companies generally have large commercial liability insurance coverage amounts in existence due to the nature of their business. In our experience most insurance companies will, with a little explanation, extend these policies to meet railroad requirements.
In addition to Commercial General Liability requirements waste haulers may also need pollution insurance to negate spillage risk. An extension of these policies to the railroad or railcar leasing companies should be a matter of course when properly explained to your insurance providers. Keep in mind railroads aren’t insurance providers. You’ll need to get your own insurance coverage to comply with railroad requirements.
Becoming Educated
Railroad requirements seem tough but generally are limited to a shipper’s compliance to a set of Federal, State, local and railroad rules and regulations. Although these requirements are somewhat arduous in nature, waste collection and disposal companies are generally used to dealing with such challenges and risk management requirements. Becoming educated on rules, regulations and processes ahead of time will ensure that your experience moving waste in bulk is a successful one.
Darell Luther is president of Forsyth, MT-based Tealinc Ltd., a rail transportation solutions and railcar leasing company. Darell’s career includes positions as president of DTE Rail and DTE Transportation Services Inc., Fieldston Transportation Services LLC, managing director of coal and unit trains for Southern Pacific Railroad and directors positions in marketing, fleet management and integrated network management at Burlington Northern Railroad. Darell has more than 24 years of rail, truck, barge and vessel transportation experience concentrated in bulk commodity and containerized shipments. He can be reached at (406) 347-5237, via e-mail at [email protected]or visit www.tealinc.com.