Transport rules and assessment of threats connected with transport of hazardous materials by train

Every year in Poland, approximately 22 million tons of dangerous materials is transported, which, apart from the German railway, places it on the second position in Europe. The most numerous group of dangerous materials include items of class 3 (liquid, flammable materials), especially liquid fuels. In order to prevent accidents and remove their effects, the European Union countries have developed an international code regulating transport of dangerous materials by railway, RID. Every year 110 billion ton kilometres of dangerous materials are transported on the territory of the EU. Materials carried by road transport account for 58%, by railway 25% and by water 17% of all the transported dangerous products. Transport of dangerous materials accounts for 8% of all freight transports in the European Union. Having in view natural environment protection and safety of people, there are carried out works on one legal act to account for all the three transport branches. Railway transports of dangerous materials are performed in a safe way and rare, in terms of the transports number, accidents and failures do not cause harmful effects, neither on people nor the natural environment. In the paper, there has been made an analysis of transport procedures and threats which occur while carrying dangerous materials. On the basis of carried out investigations an assessment of the risk factor in the studied process has been presented. General rules for transport of dangerous materials by railway and their classification have been presented, markings according to RDI regulations. An attempt of threats identification and analysis of the maim causes of undesirable events occurrence during railway transport of dangerous materials has been made by the authors of this work.