When a train hits a conventional gas car at a grade crossing it’s bad enough. But what about when train hits a hybrid car or an EV? I would think all those batteries on board would result in an instant Superfund Site in a grade crossing accident. It would seem that a train could easily smash the batteries, make a hudge mess and require a costly cleanup. What do you guys think?
…And if the impact doesn’t get the occupants, the bursted and spilled batteries might. Suppose we can’t eliminate all hazzards in our daily routines. Some of the price we will have to pay for the benefits of them.
I honestly don’t know if the battery cells use an alkaline or an acid base, but assuming there were enough of them obliterated on a Prius, it is likely that nobody without gloves would be allowed to handle them. I’ve a feeling they’re constructed to survive intact most accidents, but a freight loco can have the effect of a small bomb, so they wouldn’t be invulnerable in all situations.
Whether a precedent has already been set, or a regulation issued or not, I don’t know [is it possible to find that out?]; but I’d guesstimate that at its worst it would constitute a mini-hazmat site under today’s state of the art. I doubt the result would be a huge smoking mess of the type necessary to close a highway running closely parallel to the tracks. If the crossing road itself is small, though, it might be a while before it would or could be opened.
The NSTB is going to rope off part of the site, and presumably first responders know how to get rid of what, but it’s an interesting question.
Has it been answered in real life already???
Insignificant hazard. Now imagine a tank car loaded with say 20,000 gallons of Nitric Acid derails and leaks, that is a hazmat incident. The amount of hazmat in the Prius is trivial by comparison.
That’s reassuring.
A little OT, and my ultimate nightmare may be totally unfounded, but it would be a tanker car of anhydous ammonia impacting a tanker car of chlorine. Result: enough mustard gas to kill thousands in a town.
I hope that’s not allowed–I mean, putting the two right together in a train consist?
…I often wonder of dangers seeing many tanks in consists passing thru…Seems they really are increasing in % of the train makeup.
Putting on my firefighter’s cap - we do try to train for the new technologies, but it’s usually where to cut (and where not to cut) on such vehicles.
Next time I’m around that environment, I’ll try to remember to pose the question…
al (and others):
Did you see the news last week in Darian in which a cellular tower fell, after being struck by a car and hitting a tanker trailer (truck)? It is one of my clients and I talked to them last week and asked about the incident.
The tower hit a tanker containing one of the most flammable liquids they carry. Not only that, but there was an electric line down and to top it off it was near a natural gas pipeline. The entire town of Darian could have been wiped out.
Fortunately, the tanker didnt rupture.
ed