Railcar Covers and Lids

Overview

Uncovered coal hoppers, parked at Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal in Lambert's Point, owned and operated by Norfolk Southern in 2023. Photograph by Adrian Wood with flight time donated by SouthWings.

One solution to coal dust pollution is to cover the coal-filled railcars. Coal trains travel long distances between coal mines and ports, and winds and vibrations along the route create and release coal dust into the air. This exposes residents living near the train tracks to particulate matter, and causes coal dust to deposit on the tracts, which can destabilize the ballast and lead to train derailments.

The amount of coal dust emitted can be substantial. A 1985 news article reported that 1,000 tons of the 90,000 tons of coal shipped in open carriers to the terminals in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point "disappears into the air."

Ramon Minx, Director of the Tidewater Regional Office of the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board (APCB): "If you don't find it stacked up along the railroad tracks, it has to go somewhere."

Covers can be either physical lids or chemical sealants that create a hard coating on the coal to reduce fugitive emissions.

Physical Covers: Lids are made, for example, of durable plastic that prevent the production and release of coal dust into the atmosphere. These physical covers as reduce to amount coal lost in transport increasing profit, prevent environmental contamination, and increasing fuel efficiency of the train engine. The covers are reusable and have relatively low maintenance requirements. Covered hopper cars have historically been used for cargo like grain, sugar, and fertilizer that must be protected from exposure to the weather. Because coal is less sensitive to environmental exposures, it has traditionally been transported in open hopper cars. A 2004 experiment by Ferreira & Vaz found that the use of covers reduces the amount of dust released by more than 80%.

Chemical Sealants: Chemical sealants are typically synthetic polymer surfactants. This approach is more widely used, as chemical sealants are cheeper than physical covers and have no maintenance costs. One largely unknown aspect of chemical sealants are the safety of these chemicals, which may have additional health and environmental impacts.

Limitations and Safety

Physical Covers: The installation of physical lids requires the railcars be retrofitted and changes the logistics of loading and unloading which can add operational hurdles. These issues add costs. Norfolk Southern, for example, has maintained that covering coal-filled railcars would be prohibitively expensive. Another major issue is safety—coal dust is combustible. While risks can be managed safely, there are examples of negligence by terminal companies leading to explosions or fires, at least at the CSX coal terminal in Curtis Bay Baltimore, Maryland.

Chemical Sealants: Surface sprays degrade during transport over long distances. In Assessment of Health and Safety Implications of Coal Transport through Oakland Public Health Advisory Panel on Coal in Oakland, it was reported that many chemical sealants sprayed on coal-filled railcars in Utah degraded before reaching Oakland, California. This led to concerns about the release of these sealant chemicals into the environment.

Covering Coal-Filled Railcars and Transloading Equipment in Hampton Roads

A protester with New Virginia Majority in Lambert's Point with a sign reading, "Do Black lives matter? Cover the Coal." Photograph from New Virginia Majority, Norfolk Housing and Environmental Justice.

Lambert's Point residents along with the community organizations, New Virginia Majority and the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, have publicly called for Norfolk Southern to cover coal-filled railcars. Norfolk Southern has refused, arguing it is too expensive and that coal dust is not a problem.

Tracy Williams: "We’re not asking Norfolk Southern to leave. They’ve been there 30 or 40 years, the community was built around them. But we are asking them to cover their cars, and that seems like a small price to pay."

Read more: Cover the Coal New Virginia Majority Sierra Club Virginia Chapter

Norfolk Southern is required to submit annual reports on their coal dust emissions. According to these reports, the company conducted engineering studies to determine the feasibility and cost effectiveness of covering the rotary dumpers at the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal. The company concluded it was impractical to enclose these structures due to their age and design. The report also identified that enclosing the dumpers could be a fire hazard.

In 2011, Dominion Terminal Associates claimed to have invested $5 million to improve the chutes that transport coal along conveyor belts, limiting dust by decreasing the amount of coal being dropped from significant heights. At that time of the report, about half of the chutes had been converted.

Documents

• Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk Southern Rail Emissions Study, 1993
• Ferreira et al., Full-Scale Measurements for Evaluation of Coal Dust Release from Train Wagons with Two Different Shelter Covers, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 91, 10, 1271–83, 2003
• Ferreira et al., Wind Tunnel Study of Coal Dust Release from Train Wagons, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 92, 7–8, 565–77, 2004

• Covers for Rail Transport of Coal, June 2, 2016
• Assessment of Health and Safety Implications of Coal Transport through Oakland Public Health Advisory Panel on Coal in Oakland, Public Health Advisory Panel on Coal in Oakland, California, June 14, 2016