Each year, millions of tons of hazardous materials are shipped through railroads in North America. [1] These shipments contain poisonous, flammable, explosive, or radioactive materials that are harmful to humans and the environment. [2] Accidents involving these tank cars can create punctures that release these hazardous materials into the surrounding area, resulting in human fatalities and substantial damage to the environment. [2] In 2005, a Norfolk Southern Railway Company train collided with another train in Graniteville, South Carolina. [2] The impact punctured a chlorine containing tank car and the subsequent release of material resulted in nine fatalities due to chlorine vapor inhalation. [2] A similar incident occurred one year earlier in Macdona, Texas, when a Union Pacific Railroad freight train struck a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company freight train. [3] This accident punctured a chlorine containing tank car on the Union Pacific train releasing a noxious cloud of chlorine gas into the surrounding area. [3] This noxious cloud resulted in the deaths of the train conductor and two residents of the area. [3] A significant example of the destruction that a punctured tank car causes can be seen in the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in July 2013, which resulted in 47 casualties and 2000 evacuations. [4] Fire started immediately around the punctured tank cars carrying crude oil. The fire caused further breaches to almost all of the 63 tank cars that had derailed. [4] Whether the derailment of a hazardous material carrying tank car is caused by a fault in the railroad tracks or a fault in the tank car itself, it is important to increase the puncture resistance of the tank cars, so that similar situations do not happen. Some have suggested a speed limit reduction for tank cars carrying hazardous materials, but examples, such as the Seabrook, Texas derailment in January 2005, which occurred at only 5 mph, show that even at lower speeds, puncture occured and was followed by the spilled diesel fuel catching fire. [5] To prevent future accidents, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has shifted its research focus from tank car safety under normal loading conditions to safety under accident conditions. [6] This has resulted in new standards for tank car survivability during impacts. [6] According to the 2019-2020 National Transportation Safety Board Most Wanted List for safety recommendations, only 16 percent of tank cars carrying flammable liquids meet the improved safety specifications for the DOT-117 and DOT-117R tank cars. [7] The improved requirements include a thicker shell of 1.4 cm (9/16 of an inch) and added thermal protection. [8] The Association of American Railroads' Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, Section C-III, Specification for Tank Cars identifies two grades of steel suitable for the construction of railcar tanks. [9] TC128, Grade B, is a high-strength carbon manganese steel, whereas the Association of American Railroad (AAR) and American Society for Testing and Mate...