Transport Risk Assessment of the Daily Rail Shipments of Petroleum Products Across Montreal

Hazardous materials are potentially harmful to people and environment due to their toxic ingredients. Although a significant portion of dangerous goods transportation is via railroads, prevailing studies on dangerous goods transport focus on highway shipments. The differentiating features of trains, notably volume and nature of cargo, need to be incorporated in assessment of the associated transport risk. The authors focus on hazardous materials that are airborne upon an accidental release into the environment. Each railcar is a potential source of release, and hence risk assessment of trains requires representation of multiple release sources in the model. The paper reports on implementation of a novel approach for assessment of the population exposure associated with “Ultra-train” that passes through the city of Montreal everyday.