What is TRANSCAER?
TRANSCAER® (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) is a voluntary national outreach effort that focuses on assisting communities to prepare for and respond to a possible hazardous material transportation incident.
These tours are part of a long-term commitment by Dow and Union Pacific to provide improved community awareness and preparedness along chemical transportation routes, in coordination with national, regional and state TRANSCAER programs.
Tour Overview
In the spring of 2008 the Union Pacific Railroad and The Dow Chemical Company will continue the TRANSCAER Training Tours dedicated to educating emergency responders and their communities.
These tours will include safety-training cars from the Firefighters Education and Training Foundation, as well as equipment, provided by Union Pacific.
Through TRANSCAER, Dow, Union Pacific and other chemical shippers and carriers provide free emergency preparedness training to local and regional emergency response organizations, as well as educating communities near major rail routes about rail equipment, chemical transportation, and the importance of planning for potential hazardous material transportation emergencies.
Training Curriculum
The module-based training curriculum is designed to meet the needs of various stakeholder groups, including:
- Locomotives and Tank Cars - Learn what safety precautions to take when responding to a rail emergency, how to identify different types of tank cars,and how to interpret tank car markings, placards, and train manifest (consist) information.
- Toxic Inhalation Hazard Materials and Flammable Gases - Learn about the basic physical, chemical and toxic properties of the most common TIH and flammable gas materials, understand how to safely approach an incident scene and what precautions to take during the response and how to use the TRANSCAER process for pre-planning for these types of events.
- Valves, Fittings and Leak Repair - Learn how to identify different types of tank car fittings, where they tend to leak from, and how to use leak repair tools and specialized kits ("C-kit" and Midland Kit).
- Tank Truck Course - Participants will learn about general tank truck anatomy, including the features and operation of tank trucks, trailer/product identification methods, and basic spill/emergency response techniques as they apply to this mode of transporting hazardous materials.
