Under a fairly intense political spotlight spurred by a series of high-profile rail incidents involving crude-by-rail (CBR) shipments, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a “Railworthiness Directive requiring railroad tank car owners to replace unapproved valves currently installed in some tank cars.”
Fairport, N.Y.-based RailComm said Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015 it has completed the Blue Flag System upgrade “at a North American Class I main line refueling facility located in Temple, Tex.”
BNSF on Jan. 15, 2015 announced details about the major capital projects it plans to complete in 2015 to maintain and grow its rail network.
BNSF Railway is taking a second look at an earlier plan to purchase up to 5,000 tank cars for hauling oil products, following feedback from some of its customers, according to BNSF Chairman Matt Rose.
Seattle’s Sound Transit pre-emptively annulled train service Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, anticipating disruptions due to forecast heavy rain. Its action proved wise, as mudslides affected BNSF right-of-way, over which Sound Transit service runs.
North Dakota has ordered producers of oil from the Bakken shale field to begin removing flammable natural gas liquids from the product before crude-by-rail (CBR) transport to other locations.
The Surface Transportation Board has decided, somewhat reluctantly, to thrash out a trackage rights dispute raised by a BNSF request to acquire “terminal trackage rights over a single track jointly owned by Kansas City Southern Railway Company and Union Pacific Railroad Company.”