Stronger standards but lengthy timetable for oil trains

Thicker steel tanks, a thermal lining and improved fittings are part of the stronger safety standards for railroad cars hauling crude oil and other flammable liquids that were unveiled by U.S. and Canadian transportation officials on May 1.

Aimed at reducing the risk of a catastrophic train crash and fire, the new rules were jointly presented by Canada’s Minster of Transport Lisa Raitt and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in Washington, D.C.

The regulations are a long-awaited response to a number of fiery train crashes in the U.S. and Canada — including four in 2015. The most serious oil train accident occurred in July 2013 in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. A derailed oil train exploded in the small downtown area, killing 47 people and destroying most of the town’s central business district.

Under the rules, new tank cars carrying the most volatile liquids, including crude oil and ethanol, must have an outer shell, a thermal lining to withstand fire, improved valves and thicker, 9/16ths-inch steel walls to keep them from rupturing.

More than 16,000 of the oldest tank cars, known as DOT-111s, must be phased out or retrofitted in the U.S. and Canada by 2018. Another 27,000 cars primarily used for crude would need to be upgraded by 2020.

For the ethanol fleet, retrofits for about 20,000 DOT-111 tanker cars would have to be completed by May 2023. All remaining cars used to haul hazardous flammable liquids would need retrofits or replacement by 2025.

Foxx defended the lengthy time to replace the tanker cars, saying officials took into account how long it will take manufacturers to produce tank cars to the new standard.

“This is a schedule we believe is workable; it’s aggressive,” he said. “If you talk to some of the manufacturers who are going to have to do the work, it’s more aggressive than they would like.”

The deadlines drew criticism from safety advocates and some members of Congress, who said they would leave dangerous cars on the tracks for too long.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington noted that the May 1 announcement did not address the high volatility of crude oil originating in the Bakken region of North Dakota, Montana and Canada.

“We’re seeing these explosions that even first responders can’t respond to adequately,” Cantwell said.

Trains hauling at least 70 cars with at least one car containing the most volatile class of liquids also must be equipped with electronically controlled brakes that will automatically stop all the cars in the train at the same time, instead of sequentially.

The braking requirement will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, but it will be extended to all flammable-liquid trains after 2023. The braking requirement applies only to the U.S., but Raitt said Canadian regulators are moving on a separate, faster track to adopt a new braking standard.

Officials estimated the cost of the regulations at $2.5 billion. The oil and railroad industries had lobbied heavily against some of the changes, including meeting several times in recent months with White House budget officials.

The American Petroleum Institute said May 1 that the timeline for tanker car retrofits was too short and didn’t recognize limits on the capacity of manufacturers to get the work done. API president Jack Gerard said the regulations “will lead to shortages that impact consumers and the broader economy” by choking off the transport of crude oil to refineries.

Railroad companies opposed the new braking requirements, saying they will provide little or no added safety benefit. The U.S. Transportation Department “couldn’t make a case” for electronic brakes “but forged ahead anyhow,” Association of American Railroads CEO  Edward Hamberger said.

“This is an imprudent decision made without supporting data or analysis,” he said.

Federal Railroad Administration administrator Sarah Feinberg, however, said electronic brakes will be “a game-changer” for safety.

“We are not an agency with the goal of making things convenient or inexpensive for industry,” she said.

The U.S. and Canadian governments worked together on the rules because oil trains travel back and forth across the border. Last year, railroads moved half a million tanker cars of crude oil, a dramatic rise from 9,500 in 2008, before the hydraulic fracturing boom made oil production surge in the Bakken.

The Obama administration has been under pressure from Congress and state and local officials to ensure the safety of oil trains that traverse the U.S. after leaving the Bakken region.