Midland Manufacturing has received AAR service trial approval for its “Enhanced Fittings” package for Chlorine service. This is a part of the Next Generation Railroad Tank Car project, a joint collaboration whose principles from the Chlorine Tank Car Development Panel are: The Dow Chemical Co., Union Tank Car Co., Union Pacific Railroad, Occidental Chemical, Bayer AG and Alltranstek. The group has a stated goal of improving the safety and security of the next generation of railroad tank cars through advanced design and construction. These designs will greatly reduce the chance for a Chlorine release to atmosphere in the event of a derailment accident, even if the top fittings are torn from the railcar. Midland has created a new “Enhanced Fittings” package for Chlorine service to achieve two major goals: lower the overall height of the valves to reduce their exposure in a rollover accident, and to move all primary seals level with or below the surface of the pressure plate. Midland has conducted extensive testing of the new “Enhanced Fittings” package. This testing included shock and vibration tests, CFD (Computational Flow Dynamics) flow analysis, flow testing and cycle testing. The flow testing and CFD analysis proved that the new package has improved flow characteristics for loading and unloading the railcars, while the cycle testing showed exceptional sealing capabilities even under the most extreme operating conditions. The first 10 fittings packages have been shipped. Twenty-five railcars will be converted to the new design over the next month to begin the required two-year AAR service trial.
