Update – Freight Rail and the Demand for Rail Rolling Stock Coatings

By Aggie Lotz

This is a sequel to the original feature article published in the May 2015 issue of Coatings Tech. It was researched and written before Hurricane Harvey made landfall in late August and Hurricane Irma in September 2017. Following the pending clean-up effort, given the aftermath of both storms, an assessment of heavy industry in affected regions (including any damage to the freight rail network) would be expected.

For planning purposes, the following article may serve as a useful benchmark relative to the state of rail rolling stock (and likewise of the production rates and movement of domestic crude oil and chemicals) before the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The category of rail rolling stock coatings comprises pro­tective coating systems for tank cars, intermodal freight transport containers and hopper cars, boxcars, auto-rack cars, flat-bed cars, and locomotives. Corrosion resistance and chemical resistance in aggressive, high temperature, and high humidity environments are important coatings properties for maximizing the service life of coatings systems used on railcar and locomotive fleets, and to ensure transportation safety.

Superior chalking resistance was also cited as important to the service life of coatings, which is especially well suited to the tops of railcars to protect against unmitigated UV exposure. In the May 2015 issue of CoatingsTech, the preview of ACA’s Industry Market Analysis, 9th Edition (2014-2019) examined the effect of the historic crude oil supply boom in North America on the U.S. freight rail system. Between 2008-2014, the volume of crude oil that was transported on U.S. Class I railroads had increased by 5,100%, as tracked by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), and summa­rized in its May 2017 background paper found on www.aar.org.