Most Bakken crude can move under FRA Emergency Order

The most onerous burdens under the Emergency Order issued by the Federal Railroad Administration Feb. 25 fall upon crude shippers and transloaders. The earlier regulatory vagueness concerning the classification of crude oil has now been sharpened by specific prescriptions for evaluating “flash point; boiling point; corrosivity to steel and aluminum; presence and content of compounds such as sulfur/hydrogen sulfide; percentage presence of flammable gases; and the vapor pressure at 50ºC.”

DOT issues CBR Emergency Order

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on Feb. 25, 2014 issued an Emergency Order requiring crude oil shippers to test product from the Bakken region to ensure the proper classification of crude oil before it is transported by rail, while also prohibiting the transportation of crude oil in the lowest-strength Packing Group. DOT’s action marks the fourth Emergency Order or Safety Advisory on crude oil in the past seven months.

Freight railroads implement voluntary CBR safety initiatives

North America’s Class I railroads have embarked on a rail operations safety initiative that will institute new voluntary operating practices for moving crude oil by rail. The initiative, which follows consultations between railroads represented by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), including the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), covers steps related to crude by rail operations. Additional issues relating to the safe transport of crude oil, such as tank car standards and proper shipper classification of crude oil, are being addressed separately.
Commentary

API emphasizing collaboration, not confrontation

Following the recent, unrelated series of crude oil train derailments that resulted in fires, explosions, and in the case of Lac-Mégantic, tragedy and death, CBR (crude by rail) has come under intense scrutiny by regulatory and safety agencies, legislators, the media, the public, the oil industry, and the rail industry itself. Tank car safety standards as well as CBR operating practices—including those at origin and destination points—are being evaluated to determine if changes need to be made to improve safety, and what those changes should be.

BNSF taking bids on 5,000 oil tank cars

BNSF Railway, the industry’s largest transporter of crude oil, announced on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014, plans to purchase its own fleet of up to 5,000 crude oil tank cars that will be built to safety standards exceeding the industry’s voluntary CPC-1232 specification for DOT 111 hazmat cars. The CPC-1232 standard has applied to all DOT 111 cars built since October 2011.

CBR: CN, CP charging more for pre-CPC-1232 tank cars

CN is charger a higher rate to move crude oil in DOT-111 tank cars built prior to October 2011, when Association of American Railroads CPC (Casualty Prevention Circular)-1232 safety standards took effect. These standards include head shields, top-fitting rollover protection, half-inch-thick normalized tank steel (for unjacketed applications), double-shelf couplers, and bottom skid protection.

NS CBR train derails in Pennsylvania

A Norfolk Southern crude-by-rail (CBR) train derailed in Pennsylvania Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, resulting in oil leakage from three tank cars. No injuries were reported.

BNSF engineer trainee lauded for fast response to CBR wreck

Geoff Andersen, a BNSF locomotive engineer trainee, has been credited with preventing the spread of fire and explosions that occurred shortly after a BNSF crude oil train wrecked in Casselton, N.D., in December 2013.

The crude oil challenge

If history records 2012 as the year when modern crude by rail (CBR) came into its own, 2013 will be remembered as a time of a nearly two-fold increase in that business, and as a time for examining more closely the means by which it’s handled.

Greenbrier to offer new-gen tank cars, retrofits

The Greenbrier Companies announced on Feb. 5, 2014 that it will design a new-generation tank car for rail transport of hazardous freight, including flammable crude oil and ethanol, “that can better withstand the additional demands associated with operating unit trains” and “respond to safety criticisms of the existing legacy fleet of older DOT-111 tank cars.” Greenbrier is also introducing retrofits for tank cars already in service or now being produced, “significantly enhancing the safety of existing cars.”
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