Category Archives: Transport Canada

Canadian regulation, Crude By Rail, Derailment, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Key trains, Oil trains, Train speed, Transport Canada, Unit trains

Canada limits speed of trains moving dangerous goods – details

Minister of Transport updates Ministerial Order to reduce the risks of derailment of trains transporting dangerous goods

Benzinga, February 16, 2020 8:04pm

OTTAWA, Feb. 16, 2020 /CNW/ – To protect Canadians who live along our rail corridors, it is critical that the movement of dangerous goods by rail is done in a safe way.

Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Marc Garneau, announced specific measures through an amended Ministerial Order, to help prevent further derailment of trains carrying large quantities of dangerous goods, like petroleum crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline and ethanol.Following the derailment of a key train on February 6th, 2020, in Guernsey Saskatchewan, a Ministerial Order was issued for the immediate slowdown of key trains. A key train is one carrying 20 or more cars containing dangerous goods; or a train carrying one or more cars of toxic inhalation gas.

Since then, Transport Canada officials have worked diligently with large railway companies to further assess the causes of recent derailments, and to develop plans to address the areas of greatest concern. As a result of this work, new measures are being implemented effective immediately to reduce the speed of the higher risk key trains traveling through areas of greatest concern.

Accordingly, the Ministerial Order has been updated to provide a more targeted risk-based approach.

Key trains

    • The speed limit for key trains is now limited to 35 mph in metropolitan areas. Outside of metropolitan areas where there are no track signals, the speed is limited to 40 mph.

New measures for high risk key trains.

Higher risk key trains are unit trains where tank cars are loaded with a single dangerous goods commodity moving to the same point of destination; or trains that include any combination of 80 or more tank cars containing dangerous goods.

    • The speed limit for higher risk key trains is now limited to 25 mph where there are no track signals. For metropolitan areas, the speed limit is 30 mph unless the metropolitan area is in a non-signal territory where the speed limit will be maintain at a maximum 25 mph.

 

Type of train

Speed limit of train in metropolitan areas

Speed limit of train in areas where there are track signals

Speed limit of train in areas where there are no track signals

Higher risk key trains

(unit trains where tank cars are loaded with a single dangerous goods commodity moving to the same point of destination; or trains that include any combination of 80 or more tank cars containing dangerous goods)

30 mph (and 25 mph for non-signaled territory).

50 mph

25 mph

Key trains

(Key trains include one or more tank cars of dangerous goods that are toxic by inhalation; or trains that include 20 or more tank cars containing dangerous goods)

35 mph

50 mph

40 mph

 

The new Ministerial Order will enter into effect immediately and will remain in place until April 1, 2020.

Transport Canada is working with the railways to develop a more comprehensive set of safety measures, which will include permanent measures. These will target track infrastructure maintenance and renewal, winter operations, safety practices of the railway companies, and any other actions necessary to keep Canadians safe.

Rail safety is the Minister of Transport’s top priority, and the Government of Canada is continuously looking for ways to make our railway system even safer for Canadians.

Quotes

“The safety of Canadians is a top priority for myself and the Government of Canada. The series of derailments like the one that occurred in Guernsey, Saskatchewan, and the impacts of these accidents are concerning. It is for this reason that I put immediate speed restrictions to reduce the risk of derailments until more permanent measures are put into place to address this situation. A safe and efficient railway system is critical to the well-being of our country and its citizens.”

The Honourable Marc Garneau
Minister of Transport

Quick Facts

    • A Ministerial Order is binding instrument that is put in place to address a safety issue.
    • Minister Garneau issued a Ministerial Order on February 6, 2020, that required key trains to slow down, as a precaution to prevent further derailment of trains transporting dangerous goods.

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SOURCE Transport Canada

Oil Industry, Tar sands crude, Transport Canada

TransCanada drops Edelman as PR firm after strategy leak

Repost from The Montreal Gazette
[Editor: For background read “Edelman’s TransCanada Astroturf Documents Expose Oil Industry’s Broad Attack on Public Interest, DeSmogBlog”.  – RS

TransCanada drops Edelman as PR firm after strategy leak

Roberto Rocha, November 26, 2014
Rail cars arrive in Milton, N.D., loaded with pipe for TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline project in this Feb. 28, 2008 file photo. The fate of the contentious Keystone XL pipeline is still up in the air.
Rail cars arrive in Milton, N.D., loaded with pipe for TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline project in this Feb. 28, 2008 file photo. The fate of the contentious Keystone XL pipeline is still up in the air. | Eric Hylden / CP File Photo

Oil giant TransCanada will not renew its contract with PR firm Edelman after its communications strategy was leaked last week, sparking controversy.

The Calgary-based pipeline maker wants to build a new 4,600-kilometre, $12 billion network through Quebec and New Brunswick. This project, called Energy East, has received substantial resistance in the province. To counter this pushback, Edelman devised a plan to win over critics.

Related: Quebec won’t be influenced by TransCanada’s tactics: Arcand

“We will work with third parties and arm them with the information they need to pressure opponents and distract them from their mission,” the document, leaked by Greenpeace Canada, said.

“The conversation about Energy East has turned into a debate about our choice of agency partner,” the company’s spokesperson, Tim Duboyce, wrote in a statement. “We need to get back to a conversation about the project itself and as a result we have agreed that it is in the best interests of the project that we do not extend our contract with Edelman.”

The company said it will “start a fresh conversation with shareholders,” but did not mention specifics.

The pipeline would carry up to 1.1 million barrels of crude from the Alberta oilsands to terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Derailment, Transport Canada

Latest derailment: Estevan, Saskatchewan – no explosion

Repost from The Estevan Mercury
[Editor: Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada is located approximately 10 miles north of the Canada–North Dakota border.  – RS]

Train derailment in Estevan

May 8, 2014  |  by Chad Saxon

Estevan, Saskatchewan derailment smAlthough few details are known at this point, the City of Estevan says there is no danger to the public following a train derailment this morning.

Four tanker cars containing crude oil left the track at around 11 a.m. The incident occurred east of the CP Rail oil transloading facility and just north of the Devonian industrial subdivision.

During a media update at City Hall, Emergency Measures Coordinator Helen Fornwald confirmed the tankers were loaded and that were “no fires or leaks at this time.”

Fornwald said Transport Canada is en route to Estevan and will be conducting an investigation into the derailment.

The City is asking that the public stay away from the scene and allow emergency services and CP Rail clear access.

A cause for the derailment is not known at this time. It occurred on a low speed section of track and was not directly at the transloading facility which has been a source of concern and controversy since it opened in late 2011.

Fornwald added two businesses adjacent to the tracks were evacuated immediately after the derailment while Fire Rescue Services and CP personnel assessed the scene.

“Estevan Fire Services went on the scene and determined the priority level and once it was identified there were no leaks it was downgraded to let’s get this situation under control,” Fornwald said. “We put our EMO team on standby.”

This is the first derailment in Estevan since 2004. In that case, rail cars containing ammonia derailed and forced an evacuation of homes in the immediate area.