US mandates rail speed limit for flammables

OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2015. Under pressure from both sides of the aisle in Congress to address flammable cargo safety on US rails, the Department of Transportation (DOT) today codified an existing voluntary speed limit in urban areas and strengthened reporting mandates.

Regulators ordered railroads transporting large amounts of crude, ethanol or other flammable liquids — either in trains of 20 contiguous cars or 35 or more total cars — to slow to 40 mph in urban areas, something railroads have been doing since February 2014 in a previous agreement with DOT.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which is part of DOT, has been considering new speed limits as part of its long-awaited tank car standard rule, which is due out in May. Railroads have said one of the options, to lower speed limits across all networks, would cripple service across the continent.

Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized PHMSA for its pace in issuing new tank car rules, which are currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget.

Since PHMSA began the rulemaking process on 1 August 2014, there have been four fiery crude-by-rail accidents in North America. The rules are being developed in reaction to five other prior accidents, including the July 2013 runaway train that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

Today, PHMSA also required railroads to provide information about such trains, including identification of the cargo, its fire or explosion risk, precautions to be taken if an accident occurs, how to fight an ensuing fire and clean up any spills and a 24-hour telephone number for "immediate access to product information."

After an accident, the DOT additionally said it will want train information, origin and destination information, documents on any testing performed on the cargo, results of samples taken from the cargo after a spill and shipper and terminal information.

"The added federal directives build on the many practices and protocols the industry has applied for years for safely moving and handling hazardous materials by rail, including flammable liquids," Association of American Railroads (AAR) chief executive Ed Hamberger said. The industry group added that member railroads already conduct some of the required practices, but that the government is asking for some information that customers do not have to provide.

Also, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is recommending only its "highest skilled inspectors" look over brakes and mechanical features of trains moving large volumes of flammable liquids, and that the industry tune its automated wayside detectors to be more sensitive when examining the wheels of those trains as they pass.

A broken wheel was discovered after the fiery derailment of a Canadian National (CN) crude train near Gogama, Ontario, in February 2015. A wheel also was found to be responsible for a similar accident on another CN crude train in January 2014 near Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.

"The boom in crude oil production, and transportation of that crude, poses a serious threat to public safety," US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said. "The measures we are announcing today are a result of lessons learned from recent accidents and are steps we are able to take today to improve safety."