The United States and Canada put in place stricter safety standards for rail cars hauling shale oil and other flammable liquids after a derailment in 2013 killed nearly 50 people and decimated an entire town.
The standards that go into effect immediately include thicker frames for railcars, advanced braking mechanisms and speed limits.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx joined his Canadian counterpart, Lisa Raitt, in Washington to announce the completion of the new “comprehensive” measures.
The new safety measures for rail cars hauling oil and other flammable liquids are in response to a 2013 disaster that decimated the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec that killed 47 people. A large number of rail cars hauling oil from the Bakken shale formation crashed into the town, decimating its entire city center.
“Our close collaboration with Canada on new tank car standards is recognition that the trains moving unprecedented amounts of crude by rail are part of a North American fleet and a shared safety challenge,” Foxx said.
Foxx said the risk of catastrophes, such as the one in Quebec, continue to grow due to the North American shale oil boom that is increasing the transportation of crude oil by rail at a “staggering” rate from places like North Dakota.
“As production has skyrocketed, so has the growth of rail car loads of crude [oil],” he said. The oil shipments have resulted in a 4,000 percent increase in rail transportation, he noted.
Although the number of incidents has been low, the accident that occurred in Lac-Megantic shows “that 99.9 percent isn’t enough” and “we have to strive for perfection,” Foxx said.
The new safety rules require that rail cars have thicker steel plating to prevent their hulls from rupturing and exploding after derailments. The standards also require advanced braking mechanisms, which allow rail cars to make sudden stops to avoid collisions.
Older rail cars would be phased out, with the standards establishing a schedule to retrofit some models.
The oil industry, however, is pushing back on the standards. American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard said the industry supports the “upgrades to the tank car fleet and want them completed as quickly as realistically possible.” However, he highlighted that “the railcar manufacturing industry’s own calculations show it does not have the shop capacity to meet the retrofit timeline announced today, which will lead to shortages that impact consumers and the broader economy.”
For example, the braking requirements are “marginal at best,” he continued. “It is concerning that regulators did not select one of several alternative braking technologies that have much clearer benefits for safety.
“As we review these rules, the key question is whether science and data show each change will make a meaningful improvement to safety,” Gerard said. “A thoughtful, comprehensive and data-driven safety approach is critical to improving on the 99.997 percent safety record of freight rail to reach our goal of zero accidents.”
