buffer car

buffer car

English

Noun

buffer car (plural buffer cars)

  1. (rail transport, US) A nonhazardous railroad freight car in a train, typically used to separate locomotives and their crews from freight cars carrying hazardous materials.
    • 2024, Cody Grivno, “How railroads identify buffer service cars”, in Trains Magazine:
      The buffer car not only puts extra space between the crew and the rest of the train, but it also keeps flammable materials away from a potential ignition source.
    • 2022, Laura Sullivan, Mark Raney, Emilio Paleo, Separation Distance of Hazardous Materials Cars and Train Crews and/or Locomotives - Literature Review (Buffer Car Research Study), United States Department of Transportation
      "These requirements have been universally interpreted, by both operators and regulators, to effectively require five buffer cars for manifest trains (when train length permits) and one buffer car for unit trains and when the train length does not permit."

Derived terms

References

  • National Transportation Safety Board, Placement of DOT-111 Tank Cars in High Hazard Flammable Trains and the Use of Buffer Cars for the Protection of Train Crews (Safety Recommendation Report).
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