Monthly Archives: December 2014

Derailment, Double shelf couplers, Rail accidents

Collision and derailment in Missoula rail yard – ‘double shelf couplers’ helpful?

Repost from The Missoulian
[Editor: Significant quote: “the cars were rigged with double shelf couplers designed to prevent individual cars from detaching and potentially causing punctures.  ‘This safety feature of the tank cars worked properly, resulting in all 30 cars rolling on their side(s), as designed,’ Lewis said in a written statement.”
Here is more about double shelf couplers.  And note p. 23 of a 2010 Transport Canada study which found that “Double shelf couplers also have disadvantages: sometimes string of ’empty’ tank cars derail.”  – RS]

Montana Rail Link: Trains collide, tank cars derail in Missoula

By Kim Briggeman, December 16, 2014
derailement in Missoula
The first of 30 derailed tank cars in the Missoula rail yard is put back on the tracks Tuesday morning by a Montana Rail Link crew. The stationary tank cars were rerailed after being hit by a loaded car at low speed. Michael Gallacher

An early Tuesday morning train collision in the Missoula rail yard resulted in the derailment of 30 empty tank cars but no injuries or spills.

Montana Rail Link officials said the accident occurred about 4 a.m. when a rail car loaded with company scrap metal made low-speed contact with a stationary empty tank car coupled to 29 others.

MRL spokesman Jim Lewis said the cars were rigged with double shelf couplers designed to prevent individual cars from detaching and potentially causing punctures.

“This safety feature of the tank cars worked properly, resulting in all 30 cars rolling on their side(s), as designed,” Lewis said in a written statement.

Lewis said there was minimal equipment damage. The loaded car did not derail and was moved from the site.

Crews with heavy equipment started putting the tank cars back on track before noon and worked until 8 p.m. They’ll resume Wednesday morning, Lewis said.

Mainline service was not interrupted, and the cause of the incident is under investigation.

MRL has released no further word on its investigation into a collision east of Missoula near the mouth of the Blackfoot River on Nov. 13. That crash resulted in the derailment of three locomotives and 10 empty grain cars.

Both engineers in one locomotive were hospitalized and released. The shells of the grain cars remain along the tracks by a trestle below the former Milltown Dam as salvage work continues.

Derailment, Rail accidents, Track geometry

Derailment not human error: report cites ‘track geometry’ issues

Repost from The Missoulian

MRL report cites ‘track geometry’ issues in July derailment of Boeing fuselages

By Kim Briggeman, November 6, 2014
110614-mis-nws-boeing-derailment
A raft floats by Boeing 737 fuselages on the Clark Fork River during recovery efforts in July. TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Montana Rail Link has ruled out human error as the cause of a July 3 train derailment that destroyed six Seattle area-bound Boeing 737 fuselages along the Clark Fork River in Mineral County.

Simulations performed by a contractor hired by MRL were inconclusive, but company spokesman Jim Lewis said Wednesday they “suggest a track geometry issue.”

Railroads are required to conduct an investigation after derailments and file their findings with the Federal Railroad Administration.

An FRA spokesman said Wednesday the agency’s own investigation of the July wreck is ongoing and could take anywhere from two months to a year. The report by the railroad company is used as “another piece of evidence,” Mike Booth said.

The 19-car derailment occurred in a remote stretch a mile above the mouth of Fish Creek on the south bank of the Clark Fork River. The ruined fuselages were shipped a few miles downstream to a landing at Rivulet, where they were scrapped out later in July.

The initial investigation by Montana Rail Link, the Missoula-based railroad operated by industrialist Dennis Washington’s Washington Cos., found no evidence of operator error either on the train or in the loading or stacking of the train cars.

The fuselages themselves were shipped from Wichita, Kansas, where they’re fabricated by Spirit AeroSystems.

Safety and accident prevention have always been a top priority of Montana Rail Link, Lewis said.

“We have numerous employee safety programs, as well as rigorous track inspection policies,” he said. “In addition, we invest millions of dollars in track maintenance annually to operate the safest railroad possible.”

Boeing continues to use the Wichita company as its sole supplier of fuselages, sending the blue-green plane shells more than 1,500 miles to Renton, Washington. Almost half the route follows BNSF and MRL tracks in southern Montana.

Parts of Boeing 777 and 747 hulls were also involved in the wreck but were undamaged. They were sent on their way to a separate plant in Everett, Washington.

The smaller 737s are in unprecedented demand. Two assembly lines in Renton each completes a 737 roughly every working day, a total of 42 a month. Boeing has announced it will open another line next year in the same plant to build the 737 Max, upping the total capacity to 60 a month.

Air Quality, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Bay Area Refineries

Bay Area Air Quality Management District approves plan to cut pollution at oil refineries

Repost from The Contra Costa Times

Bay Area Air Quality Management District approves plan to cut pollution at oil refineries

By Denis Cuff , 12/18/2014

SAN FRANCISCO — Regional air pollution regulators on Wednesday approved a far-reaching blueprint to cut Bay Area oil refinery emissions by 20 percent.

Under the plan, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board will consider a package of air pollution rules in 2015 to reduce emissions from five refineries.

More rigorous monitoring of refinery emissions will be required. To assure continued clean air improvements, refiners will be required periodically to assess their pollution and ways to reduce it.

“This strategy will ensure that refineries are taking the strongest steps to cut emissions and minimize their impacts on neighboring residents and the region as a whole,” Jack Broadbent, the air district’s executive officer, said.

The plan was approved unanimously by the air board, which regulates pollution in nine counties.

The five Bay Area refineries are Chevron, Shell, Valero, Phillips 66 and Tesoro.

Oil prices, Oil producers

Bloomberg: Oil Crash Exposes New Risks for U.S. Shale Drillers

Repost of Bloomberg News  by API SmartBrief – Energy

Shale drillers see new challenges

December 19, 2014

U.S. shale oil production. Photographer: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The three-way collar strategy that some drilling companies use to hedge oil and natural gas price risks could aggravate a cash crunch in the face of a steep slump in oil prices, according to this analysis. Although this hedge is cheaper than other strategies, it can expose companies to sharp price declines. “Because we’ve had high energy prices for so long, it could have given them a false sense of confidence. They picked a price they thought it wouldn’t go below. It has turned out to be very expensive,” said Ray Carbone, president of Paramount Options.   MORE: Bloomberg (12/19)