Midland News & Press Releases

While ethylene oxide (EO) is a basic compound in many commonly used products, it can be quite volatile. This colorless gas is flammable and highly reactive, and acute exposure to EO can lead to severe health hazards. These characteristics and their potential risks to humans and the environment requires EO to be handled with the utmost care during transport, much of which is performed via pressurized railcar.

A key link in the LPG production and supply chain are the railroads that transport the fuel to all points of the compass in the U.S. In fact, the 120-car LPG-laden unit trains passing through communities large and small across the country have become so ubiquitous that they have essentially become ambient noise.

OPW, a Dover company and a global leader in fluid-handling solutions, announced today that is has acquired the ISO Liquid Tank Container product line from Girard Equipment, Inc., of Vero Beach, FL. Going forward, OPW will manufacture the ISO Liquid Tank Container product line at OPW’s facility in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China, with emphasis on increasing OPW’s presence and product portfolio in the Asia-Pacific, Latin American and European regions.

There are inherent risks that must be analyzed and mitigated when transporting liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, via railcar. Perhaps the most “noteworthy” or “fear-inducing” risk in transporting LPG is the potential for deadly fires and explosions that can result during an accident or non-accidental release (NAR) incident that includes a breach in product containment.

It’s an unavoidable fact of railroad life that at some point, most unit trains – which can be 100 cars or longer – will pass through a heavily populated urban area while laden with dangerous or hazardous materials. While accidents that result in catastrophic leaks or spills of hazardous materials are extremely rare – and becoming even rarer, according to industry analysts – a rollover incident that occurs in an urban, population-dense area has the potential to adversely affect a large number of people.

In the fluid storage terminal industry, hundreds of product-transfer activities that take place on any given day carry with them the built-in risk of a product release occurring. Product releases, especially if the fluid product is deemed dangerous or hazardous, cannot be tolerated in any form or volume because they can cause injury to those administering the transfer process, along with damage to our environment.

Per its mission to protect people and the environment while also enhancing business performance, Midland Manufacturing developed a Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) pursuant to the DOT-117/TC-117 regulation.

The lifespan of valves that are used to control and contain bulk materials transported via railcar – whether liquid, gas or solid – is finite. As mechanical instruments, it is inevitable that one day they will begin to break down or outright fail, which will prevent them from adequately and reliably doing the job for which they have been tasked.

There are a number of ways that chlorine carriers can find themselves out of compliance, often through no fault of their own. To aid in the never-ending battle to stay compliant, many railcar component developers and suppliers like Midland have made a commitment to designing Advanced Chlorine Railcar Assembly equipment that addresses all of the FRA, PHMSA and DHS compliance needs of chlorine carriers.

Completely overhauling or replacing your railcar valves every few years can be a time-consuming and expensive process. This has led many railcar valve manufacturers to begin offering remanufacturing and repair programs in which customers can send valves that have been in the field back to the manufacturer for testing, inspection and cleaning.

Railroad freight shipments are on track to surpass 24 billion in 2040. That is a 35% increase from 17.8 billion in 2017. Historically high levels of oil and natural gas production are driving this trend, raising the amount of hazardous materials being transported by rail. When combined with chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, ethylene oxide and sulfur dioxide, there are over 3.1 billion tons of hazardous materials transported via rail each year.

Much of the chlorine that is produced in the U.S. is transported from production facility to end user via railroads. This, combined with the fact that chlorine is a hazardous material, makes it imperative that it is handled and shipped safely via rail tank cars that have been specifically designed for chlorine transport.

Since crude oil is classified as a hazardous material, Midland has dedicated itself to designing, manufacturing and distributing world-class equipment and solutions for the safe handling and transport of crude oil. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the population and environment are protected from crude oil leaks and spills, tank overfills and fugitive vapor emissions.

While the nation’s railroad operators should be proud of this decade's rail safety improvements, this is no time for them to rest on their laurels. The reality is that the next product-release incident can lie just around the next bend in the track. There are three primary potential risks that railroad operators must be aware of every time a train laden with hazardous materials pulls away from the depot.

For too many emergency-service providers, wanting and actually acquiring an ERK are two entirely different things. Thankfully, a number of federal programs have been put into place to offer millions of dollars in available grant funding.

With the majority of industrial-use NH3 transported via pressurized railcar, it is imperative that the railroads and their employees take serious precautions when loading, unloading and transporting it. Recognizing the importance of preventing the release of NH3, Midland Manufacturing, Inc., has developed an Anhydrous Ammonia Fittings Package that can help guarantee its safe handling, transport and delivery.

With Ethylene Oxide being necessary in many industrial-manufacturing processes, it is imperative that it be securely contained to minimize leaks that can be harmful to people, surrounding communities or the environment. A large portion of the responsibility for the safe, leak-free handling, transport and delivery of Ethylene Oxide falls on the shoulders of the railroads that are a pivotal link in its supply chain.

***This program has been suspended as of March 2020.*** Continuous improvement of products and services is the driving force at Midland. As the latest update to better serve customers, Midland is pleased to announce that upgrades in processes at the Skokie Midland Manufacturing site have allowed several models of our bottom outlet valves to be available for a quick-ship program with a 5-day turnaround.

Positive Train Control (PTC) is slated to create safety benefits for rail cars, stopping trains before accidents can occur. Though it is easy to understand the positives of such an asset, the undertaking to get the system up and running is quite complex.

Manways remain the leading cause of all NARs on tank-cars, having made up over 25% of tank-car NARs in 2017. In order to address the issue, the AAR Tank Car Committee, in collaboration with the FRA, has initiated a new docket.