Hazmat routing: Alternate routing risk analysis

The railroad industry is challenged by the complexity and cost of performing the alternate route analysis as required by the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) hazmat routing regulation. This is especially problematic to the regional and short line railroads for several reasons, including the unavailability of alternate routes and, as with the Class I railroads, it is a matter of cost and complexity of analysis. This research paper will look at developing a simplified risk model so as to reduce the cost and complexity of the analysis. This will be accomplished by, among other things, looking at the input parameters to the model for commonality so as to reduce the number (of input parameters) and look at three operating conditions for the analysis. They are: 1) the premise that there are available alternate routes, 2) that alternate routes may not be feasible operationally or economically and 3) that there are no alternate routes. This research and analysis will result in a model that is less complex and costly to run and address the concerns and challenges of the short line and regional railroads.