Rail E-ssentials

For 10 years, the employees of the TÜV SÜD Rail test center for rolling stock have been carrying out dynamic strength tests of tank containers for the transport of hazardous substances (liquids, gases) and of cryogen tanks. In these tests (impact test), a freight wagon of 80 tons travelling at a maximum speed of 15 km/h is made to collide with a stationary flat wagon carrying the tank container to be tested. This test aims to prove the container’s strength in extraordinary situations, like collision impacts during shunting movements.

In December 2015, the test center for rolling stock was subject to a re-certification audit by Transport Canada (Safety and Security, Transport Dangerous Goods Directorate). After verification of the process documents and test reports of the past years, the certification, granted for the first time in 2007, has been extended for another five years.

The certification is based on the Canadian regulation ‘CSA B625-08 – portable tanks for the transport of dangerous goods’.

The TÜV SÜD Rail test center for rolling stock in Görlitz, Germany, is one out of only four approved laboratories worldwide for the testing of tank containers for hazardous substances in the ‘Impact Test’. The others are in France (SNCF), China (CNR) and South-Africa (TFR).

Norms and regulations, being the basis for the testing of tank containers:

• CAN/CGSB-43.147-2005 - amendment 1 (2008) à will be/has been replaced by CSA B625-08 and CSA B625-13
• UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods – Manual of Tests and Criteria, PART IV, Section 41
• ISO 1496-3:1995 - amendment 1 (2006)
• ISO 668: 2013