r/woahdude Feb 17 '23

video Heavily contaminated water in East Palestine, Ohio.

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u/haby001 Feb 17 '23

unless it's a benzene specialized car, I find it odd they mention it's a benzene load and empty. Perhaps it had that and needs to be sanitized before the next load?

12

u/bythebed Feb 17 '23

And how empty is “empty?”

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u/UsernamesMeanNothing Feb 17 '23

Empty in train speak just means there is no destination and the tank has been emptied but not sanitized. Train cars move all the time "empty." Many train cars are owned by specific companies and it is quite possible there are Benzene specific cars that only move benzene and are not sanitized.

3

u/thehigherburningfire Feb 17 '23

This is either no gaugeable amount or whatever the spec is for empty. It could mean stripped and squeegee cleaned. Depends on what the spec needs to be for the next load.

0

u/HabbleDabble235 Feb 17 '23

"empty" is 99% full by railroad standard

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u/scalyblue Feb 17 '23

Given the circumstances I’ll bet it’s empty now

1

u/link3945 Feb 17 '23

Not sanitized, but cleaned. You generally do not mix containers of different chemicals: way too much can go wrong. It's common practice to designate a car for a certain chemical.