Thoughts about the tendency of equipping gas transporting Rail Tank Cars (RTCs) in Europe with hydraulic bottom valves.
For an operator who transports around 420,000 tons of gas (from propylene to isobutane) on rail in the sensitive European refining sector where one has to watch every penny, the mechanical availability of RTCs is extremely important.
Though according to calculations based on maintenance related data, almost 50% of the failures are not failures in the strictest sense (used up brake shoes and very possible thefts – missing aluminum and copper parts) and can be repaired or replaced on-site, central valve related failures still compose almost 20% of the complete spectrum. Considering that an average gas RTC repair when it has to be sent to a repair shop takes around 50 days and 2-3000 euros (empty run, cleaning, empty run, repair, empty run; plus possible rental costs during the out of order time) it’s no wonder that every operator tries to avoid such breakdowns.
This is why the following question arises: Why are the newly built gas tank cars equipped with hydraulic bottom valves by default, when these tend to break down three times more than the mechanic ones? (Hydraulic bottom valves are preferred to mechanic bottom valves so much that the procurement of 20 the latter can slow down the production of 20 gas rail tank cars by weeks!)
The answer originates from the very different viewpoints of a designer and an operator which unfortunately seem to meet rarely: while on paper a hydraulic system seems easier to operate because it needs much less manpower, it is too sophisticated for the railroad – sadly the educational level about tank car handling and components of the personnel who load and unload the tank cars is very low in the CEE region which leads to many cases of improper usage.
- Signs of forced opening with a crowbar on the handling wheel,
- Damage of the hydraulic pump or the bottom valve gasket due to the screwed in ice breaking screw,
- Bolt found halfway between the gears of the hydraulic pump,
- Hydraulic pump hanging on the side of the RTC (!)
Since unfortunately one cannot go around and teach how to load and unload a tank car – especially for people who work in the field for years and have a bad practice – it would be more practical to try and convince the designers about making the tank cars as foolproof as possible. The problem about this approach is that they do not have much contact with the end users of their designs.
In my opinion this is where a good production excellence team could work wonders by knowing both the qualities of the personnel handling the tank cars, the needs of the operator and the opportunities of the designers in the railcar manufacturing facilities.
