Government Proposes Faster Changes in Rail Tank Cars.
Federal regulators said Wednesday that they would require railroads and oil shippers to use stronger tank cars to transport crude oil across the nation within two years, offering a speedier timetable than initially expected in response to a spate of derailments and spills involving oil trains over the last year.
The timetable is faster than a similar effort in Canada, which plans to phase out older tank cars within three years.
The proposed rules announced by the Transportation Department offer a wide range of measures to enhance the safety of oil trains, many of which had already been adopted by railroads on a voluntary basis in recent months, such as notifying state emergency responders about train traffic, reducing speed limits or picking the safest route. . .
Under the new rules, tank cars used for crude oil, ethanol and other petroleum products would require increased steel shielding and better thermal protection, and would have to be fitted with more crash-resistant valves. Older models that cannot be refitted with these features would have to be retired or used for other purposes.
Transportation officials are still seeking public comment on whether to outfit the new cars with electronically controlled brakes and rollover protection, and whether to use seven-sixteenths-inch or nine-sixteenths-inch steel. The department said the proposed rules would be open to public comment for 60 days. Final rules are expected by early next year.
The Transportation Department has been working on the new standard for several years. But the rapid development of domestic oil supplies from the Bakken shale region has caught many federal and state officials off guard. Most of that oil is transported by rail, given the lack of pipelines to take the oil to refineries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/business/government-proposes-faster-changes-in-rail-tank-cars.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHeadline&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
