Category Archives: Rail tank cars

Explosion, Fire, Rail tank cars

Fire and explosion with injuries at Atchison, Kansas rail yard

Repost from NewsPressNOW.com, St. Joseph, MO
[Editor: original news reports said that the tank car exploded.  Now officials are calling it a fire and “over-pressure” in the building.  Raw news video footage shows fire emerging at the top of a tank car, so it is clear that the tank car was involved.  KSHB Kansas City reported that the building is used to prepare railcar services for painting.  As of today, no one is reporting whether the tank car was a DOT-111, and no one has disclosed the nature of the burning fuel.   – RS]

Explosion near Atchison deemed accident

Two injured employees upgraded to fair condition
By Jeremy Lyons FOX 26 KNPN, December 12, 2014

An explosion at a railroad contracting company just south of Atchison, Kan., has been deemed an accident.

“The fire marshal’s office did do a complete investigation of the building and they have determined there is nothing criminal in the building,” Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie said. “So they have released the building back to GBW, and whether or not any other investigators will be coming in or not, we do not know that at this point.”

The explosion Thursday afternoon at GBW Rail Services, which sent nine employees to the hospital, proved not to be in a rail car, as previously reported by authorities.

The accident occurred inside of the building. However, the contents inside the rail car have not been ruled out as a contributing factor.

“The actual rail car itself did not explode. There was an explosion inside the building and I was corrected on ‘explosion’ as well, as it was an over-pressure is what they called it,” Mr. Laurie said. “The over-pressure meaning that the building expanded to some type.”

The sheriff couldn’t comment on exactly what over-pressurization was and the fire investigators could not be reached for comment.

Two men who were admitted to the University of Kansas Hospital in critical condition were upgraded to fair condition Friday, but their names have not been released.

“There’s a lot of debris, insulation, just a lot of materials inside there,” he said. “When walking out of that scene, it’s hard to believe that everybody actually did walk out of that area.”

All other employees inside the building at the time were accounted for. Most were treated and released.

Crude By Rail, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Public Safety, Rail routing, Rail tank cars, Tank car design, Train speed, Valero Benicia Refinery, WesPac Energy

KTVU OAKLAND: New push to make rail cars safer

Repost from KTVU Channel 2, Oakland, CA
Andrés Soto from Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community is interviewed in this KTVU TV report.  “….the grass roots group, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community, is not buying it: ‘There have been numerous…incidents with these rail cars. Even the improved rail cars, most recently at Lynchburg, Virginia,’ says Soto.”

OAKLAND: New push to make rail cars safer

Bakken Crude, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Oil train contents, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Public Safety, Rail accidents, Rail tank cars, Tank car design, Tank car identification, U.S. Department of Transportation

Two studies: Bakken crude by rail – safety and volatility

[Editor: The following studies were recommended to me by a neighbor who supports Valero’s crude by rail proposal.  Both are loaded with valuable information, useful to anyone who wants facts to back up an argument for or against Valero’s project.  You can download the document by clicking on the green text.   Thanks, neighbor!  – RS] 

Center for Strategic and International Studies –
Safety of Crude Oil by Rail

By David Pumphrey, Lisa Hyland, and Michelle Melton, March, 2014

Summary

In the last several years, rail has come to play an important role in the transportation of growing U.S. crude oil production. Over the last seven months, a number of serious accidents have resulted in intense review of the safety of shipping large quantities of oil by rail. The focus has been on classification of the oil, the integrity of tank cars, and rail operations. Regulatory processes have been initiated to attempt to deal with these issues in a timely manner. This issue analysis provides facts that illuminate the players, concerns, current status of regulatory action, as well as the potential issues going forward.

Further regulation of crude by rail is a near certainty, but the ultimate scope and pace remains unclear. Whether regulatory action actually slows down what has become a burgeoning transportation option for crude oil producers and refiners is an open question. It is increasingly unlikely that regulatory action—unless truly drastic—will stop shipment of crude by rail. However, moving forward, regulatory action such as phasing out older tank cars, rerouting trains, or imposing stringent requirements for testing, could impact the economics of crude by rail.   [MORE – a 9-page report in PDF format]

Congressional Research Service –
CRS Report – Crude Oil Properties Relevant to Rail Transport Safety

by Anthony Andrews, Specialist in Energy Policy, February 18, 2014

Summary

The dramatic increase in U.S. crude oil production, coupled with the increase in crude oil transport by rail, has raised questions about whether properties (e.g., flammability) of these crude types—particularly Bakken crude oil from North Dakota—differ sufficiently from other crude oils to warrant any additional handling considerations. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a Safety Alert to notify emergency responders, shippers, carriers, and the public that recent derailments and resulting fires indicate that the type of crude oil transported from the Bakken region of North Dakota may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil. The alert reminds emergency responders that light sweet crude oil, such as that coming from the Bakken region, pose significant fire risk if released from the package (tank car) in an accident. PHMSA has expanded the scope of lab testing to include other factors that affect proper characterization and classification of crude oil such as volatility, corrosivity, hydrogen sulfide content and composition/concentration of the entrained gases in the material.

All crude oils are flammable, to a varying degree. Further, crude oils exhibit other potentially hazardous characteristics as well. The growing perception is that light volatile crude oil, like Bakken crude, is a root cause for catastrophic incidents and thus may be too hazardous to ship by rail. However, equally hazardous and flammable liquids from other sources are routinely transported by rail, tanker truck, barge, and pipeline, though not without accident.

A key question for Congress is whether the characteristics of Bakken crude oil make it particularly hazardous to ship by rail, or are there other causes of transport incidents, such as poor maintenance practices, inadequate safety standards, or human error.  [MORE – a 13-page report in PDF format]

 

Bakken Crude, Emergency Readiness & Response, Explosion, Hazmat notification, Massive increase in crude-by-rail, Oil spill, Positive Train Control, Rail tank cars, Volatile gases

US Rep. Thompson & colleagues urge action on oil train safety

Repost from Representative Mike Thompson’s website
[Editor: see also the full text of the Reps’ letter below this press release.  – RS]

Reps. Thompson, Matsui, Miller & Garamendi Send Letter To Secretary Of Transportation Foxx Requesting Immediate Action To Improve Safety Of Crude Oil Shipped By Rail

Jul 1, 2014  |  Press Release
Letter calls on DOT to expedite rules and issue regulations to improve safety of crude shipments and prevent future accidents

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives Mike Thompson (CA-05), Doris Matsui (CA-06), George Miller (CA-11) and John Garamendi (CA-03) sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx expressing strong concern over the increased shipments of crude oil by rail in their districts, and calling for action to increase safety.

“We are especially concerned with the high risks involved with transporting lighter, more flammable crude in densely populated areas. Should spills or explosions occur, as we have seen over the last year, the consequences could be disastrous, costing lives, damaging property, and harming the environment,” the members wrote. “While we are pleased with the many actions that DOT has taken thus far and we believe that your agency is making steady progress, we must still emphasize the utmost importance of demonstrated compliance with federal regulations by the railroad and petroleum industries.  We believe there must be accountability and comprehensive oversight, as well as adherence to the most stringent of standards.”

Specifically, the letter calls on the Department of Transportation (DOT) to:

  • Provide a report on the level of compliance by the railroad and petroleum industry to the May 7th Emergency Order that requires information be shared in a timely manner with local entities.
  • Issue a rulemaking that requires stripping out the most volatile elements from Bakken crude before it is loaded onto rail cars.
  • Expedite the issuance of a final rulemaking to require the full implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) technology for all railroads transporting lighter crude and provide a status report on the progress of PTC implementation to date.
  • Expedite the issuance of a rulemaking that requires phasing out old rail cars for newer, retrofitted cars.

The full text of the letter is below:

July 1, 2014

The Honorable Anthony Foxx
Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590

Dear Secretary Foxx:

As members of the California Congressional Delegation, we are writing to voice our strong concerns over the increased shipment of crude oil by rail in our districts and the safety risks associated with this upsurge. Northern California is already seeing a significant increase in the movement of oil through our local communities, and the number of shipments is only expected to rise in the coming years. We commend the Department of Transportation (DOT) for its focus thus far on more information sharing, slower speeds, and reinforced railcars. As you know, the solutions for this important safety issue must be multi-pronged and implemented as quickly as possible, which requires a strong and coordinated effort by the federal government to achieve an effective solution.

We are especially concerned with the high risks involved with transporting lighter, more flammable crude in densely populated areas. Should spills or explosions occur, as we have seen over the last year, the consequences could be disastrous, costing lives, damaging property, and harming the environment. While we are pleased with the many actions that DOT has taken thus far and we believe that your agency is making steady progress, we must still emphasize the utmost importance of demonstrated compliance with federal regulations by the railroad and petroleum industries.  We believe there must be accountability and comprehensive oversight, as well as adherence to the most stringent of standards.

We appreciate your agency’s May 7th Emergency Order that requires carriers to provide State Emergency Response Commissions with advance notice because it is imperative that local emergency managers and first responders are given up-to-date information on what materials are being transported through their regions, when these transports are occurring, and where this crude oil will be stored. But, because improved coordination and communication between the oil companies, railroads, and emergency managers is so fundamental to the safe transport of highly flammable lighter crude, we request a full report on the level of compliance by the oil companies and railroads to date.

Additionally, we urge your agency to prioritize implementing solutions in an expeditious manner that we believe will better protect our communities. One such solution would remove a significant amount of the volatile elements, flammable natural gas liquids (NGLs), from the crude before it is loaded onto rail cars and we understand that regulators are already considering this course of action. In order for industry to comply, they would need to build small processing towers known as stabilizers that shave off NGLs from crude before it is ultimately loaded for transport. Stabilizers are common in other parts of the country and we understand that this could also be feasible through equipment leasing.  Because your agency has explicitly stated that all options are on table, we believe that requiring the petroleum industry to make lighter crude shipments by rail less volatile must be a part of the solution. And, although building infrastructure will require time and investment, industry experts have also publicly stated that stripping NGLs from lighter crude is a part of the equation for addressing railcar safety.

Furthermore, we believe that positive train control (PTC) advanced technology should be fully implemented as it is designed to automatically stop or slow a train before accidents can occur.  Derailments must be avoided at all costs and PTC should be prioritized due to its accurate prevention of train-to-train collisions and derailments caused by excessive speed and unauthorized movement of trains.  We believe that an expedited final rulemaking requiring full implementation of PTC is needed for those railroads that will be transporting lighter crude by rail through our communities.

Yet another solution that has been considered and in some cases the oil industry has initiated, is switching out older rail cars for new, retrofitted ones.  We urge your agency to issue a rulemaking to require phasing out and retrofitting older tank cars that do not have the latest safety technologies installed in order to further minimize the impact of an explosion, if a derailment with lighter crude were to occur.

As all of these federal emergency orders and standards are being considered and final regulations are set to come out next year, we request that your agency provide us ongoing information regarding industry compliance and develop ambitious standards that will both prevent derailments and ensure that industry workers and communities are protected in cases where derailments do occur.  We cannot allow communities to be in danger when viable solutions are available.

To sum up our requests, we would like your agency to:

  • Provide a report on the level of compliance by the railroad and petroleum industry to the May 7th Emergency Order.
  • Issue rulemaking that requires stripping out the most volatile elements from Bakken crude before it is loaded onto rail cars.
  • Expedite the issuance of a final rulemaking to require the full implementation of PTC technology for all railroads transporting lighter crude and provide a status report on the progress of PTC implementation to date.
  • Expedite the issuance of a rulemaking that requires phasing out old rail cars for newer, retrofitted cars.

We believe that we must be vigilant and put in place strict safety regulations that can adapt and meet the rapidly changing transportation and energy needs of our country. Thank you for your continued elevation of these important safety issues, and we look forward to working with you on this matter.