crude by rail

DOT NPRM helps bump up freight car builder stocks

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on DOT 111 tank cars for crude oil and HHFTs (High-Hazard Flammable Trains), specifically the NPRM’s proposal for phasing out older, pre-CPC-1232 tank cars, could worsen the crude oil tank car shortage, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 13, 2014. Following the WSJ’s report, the stock prices of three tank car builders—Trinity, The Greenbrier Companies, and American Railcar Industries—increased by nearly 3% each.

DOT crude oil NPRM: Will cooler heads prevail?

A recent call-in forum on crude by rail conducted by Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Contributing Editor Jason H. Seidl “helped affirm our view that the final version of the DOT’s safety rules may include some changes to the ones proposed on July 23.”

NS aids CBR safety training effort

Norfolk Southern Corp. said Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 it recently sponsored a crude-by-rail (CBR) emergency response class at the Association of American Railroads’ Security and Emergency Response Training Center (SERTC) in Pueblo, Colo. The class drew 40 responders from nine states.

RSI: 2Q railcar orders, deliveries flex muscle

The Railway Supply Institute on Friday, July 18, 2014, released its railcar industry order, delivery, and backlog statistics for the second quarter, with the data showing strong growth, which one analyst attributes largely to ongoing crude-by-rail (CBR) developments.

Canada TSB clears interim CBR reforms

Canada’s transportation accident investigators gave the country’s rail regulator, Transport Canada, a passing grade on interim emergency directives introduced in April to reduce the chances of crude oil train explosions such as that which devastated downtown Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, on July 6, 2013.

Tank Car of the Future among more Greenbrier railcar contracts

Not including orders for 7,000 new railcars worth $700 million announced May 21, 2014, Greenbrier has been awarded contracts for 7,700 cars from multiple buyers valued at more than $960 million. Among the orders are 3,500 Tank Cars of the Future from multiple customers in the U.S. and Canada, “the first awards in the rail industry for a dramatically improved tank car for transporting flammables,” Greenbrier said.

Hamberger outlines industry’s CBR safety strides

Addressing the Railway Age Crude By Rail Conference in Arlington, Va., Thursday, June 12, 2014, Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger detailed the many steps freight railroads are taking to boost the safety of moving crude oil by rail.

Commentary

Safety-driven railway realignments

As railroaders, regulators, suppliers, and crude oil shippers convene at the Railway Age Crude by Rail Conference on June 12, they may ponder the full range of proffered remedies to exploding oil trains: re-classification of Bakken crude from merely flammable to explosive; de-gasification before loading; better track and car maintenance; tighter operating rules; sharing of consist details with first responders; and, of course, more robust tank cars.
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