WASCOSA News

The German Chemical Industry Association (Verband der Chemischen Industrie – VCI), a North Rhine-Westphalia regional association, gave awards to three companies for outstanding projects on transport safety. Grillo-Werke AG in Duisburg was honoured with first place thanks to the WASCOSA safe tank car^® design. This revolutionary car design has demonstrated the Duisburg-based company’s commitment to Responsible Care for around five years and sets new safety standards for pressurised gas tank cars. Second and third places were awarded to the companies Brenntag GmbH and Evonik Industries AG.
 

^©VCI NRW/Galaschek:
From left to right: Garrelt Duin, NRW Minister of Economics, Dr Joachim van de Flierdt, Grillo-Werke AG, Dr Günter Hilken, CEO of VCI NRW

VCI had advertised this year’s Responsible Care competition under the slogan “We’ve got great ideas for transport safety and logistics”. They were looking for ideas that go over and above compliance with the usual regulations. This makes it possible to show how responsible action for the planning, preparation or practical implementation of chemical transportation is understood, regardless of the size of the company.

At the award ceremony for the Responsible Care competition at VCI NRW in Düsseldorf on 10 June 2015, the company Grillo-Werke AG (Chemicals division) accepted the first prize. “It is rare that first prize has been as clear to the jury as it was this year”, said a member of the specialist jury. Grillo has set new safety technology standards for pressurised gas tank cars with the WASCOSA safe tank car^® design. “We are proud of our pioneering role. Following the theme of Responsible Care and in collaboration with WASCOSA, we have voluntarily invested in the safety of rolling stock and we are delighted to see that this commitment is being imitated”, explains the Head of the Grillo-Werke AG Sulphur Dioxide & Derivatives Business Unit, Dr Joachim van de Flierdt.

WASCOSA safe tank car^® design
On the occasion of its market launch in 2010, the safe tank car^® from WASCOSA set a new safety standard for the transport of dangerous goods by rail. The first series was used for the transport of sulphur dioxide. Thanks to various safety elements and the optimised brake platforms at both ends of the car, this type of car embodies the dangerous goods tank car of the future. Together with the customer Grillo-Werke AG, manufacturers of freight wagons and components, and specialists in crash and simulation technology from the automobile industry, WASCOSA developed a car with a revolutionary occupational health and safety package.


The WASCOSA safe tank car^® - the new safety standard for the transport of dangerous goods by rail

The trend towards more “voluntary safety” for the transport of dangerous goods by rail is becoming more prevalent in all categories of dangerous goods. It has long since ceased to be simply a question of energy absorption using crash buffers; it now also concerns the additional protection of the tank by preventing the overriding of buffers, the avoidance of derailments and their uncontrollable consequences, and last but not least, the safety of shunting personnel in service. At the transport logistic 2011 trade fair, the WASCOSA safe tank car^® was presented as a never-before-seen, completely new safety concept.
 
Since then the safety elements of the WASCOSA safe tank car^® have been applied on other new series of railway tank cars for the transport of products in a wide variety of dangerous goods categories. Measures to increase the safety of dangerous goods transportation by rail are thus not only possible, they are already being implemented in the chemical and petrochemical industry thanks to an increasing number of initiatives, and have a proven track record. With around 1,100 vehicles delivered or ordered within five years, the WASCOSA safe tank car^® is rapidly developing into a new industry standard for the transport of dangerous goods by rail.
 
In 2013, CEFIC incorporated parts of the WASCOSA safe tank car^® design in its recommendations
On 30 August 2013, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) published a new edition of its recommendations for the construction of tank cars for the transport of chemical products and liquid gases. Among other measures for increasing safety, such as equipping cars with crash buffers, CEFIC also recommended the car underframe with two brake platforms developed by WASCOSA. This concept, first presented in 2010 with the WASCOSA safe tank car^®, provides operational personnel with a safe place to stand at both ends of the car.