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BNSF Railway Co., Union Pacific Railroad, the Nebraska Trucking Association, Nebraska Emergency Management Association and Hazmat Response Inc. are sponsoring a Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER) tour in Nebraska this month to educate local emergency responders about ethanol transportation hazards.

A voluntary national outreach program, TRANSCAER aims to help communities prepare to respond to transportation incidents involving hazardous materials. Because ethanol traffic is increasing in the Midwest, the partners arranged the tour to focus on safely handling and shipping ethanol, which is a flammable liquid.

To be held at seven Nebraska locations, the tour will include emergency responder classroom training sessions and hands-on tank-car repair exercises. Training will cover proper tank-car loading and securement techniques, and ways to prevent ethanol leaks.

BNSF and UP conducted a similar TRANSCAER tour in Kansas last year. In 2008, the railroads plan to arrange an ethanol transportation safety tour in Iowa.