Assessment and management of problems arising from hydocarbon contamination in the operations of an urban railway system

This study was an attempt at an initial assessment of problems arising from hydrocarbon contamination in the operations of an urban railway system. The assessment was focused on oil and grease materials and hence coal or other hydrocarbons were omitted. This study also included some subjective judgement of how these problems should be managed, in light of the writer's experience as a railway engineer and based on some simplified experiments. Although several dimensions of the problems were studied including engineering, management, legal, and staff training and development aspects, the main focus of this study was put on bioremediation.