BNSF to reopen North Dakota track

OREANDA-NEWS. BNSF Railway will reopen the mainline track in Heimdal, North Dakota, around 2pm today, following the fiery derailment of six Hess tank cars carrying crude on 6 May.

The cars were part of a 107-car unit train that jumped the tracks on a route regularly used to move production to east coast refineries. It was the 10th fiery crude-by-rail accident since July 2013, when a Bakken crude train plowed into the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people. It was the fifth such accident this year.

Crew are working to clean up the area, remove the derailed cars and repair the damaged track at that location.

Hess, an early Bakken pioneer that loads crude at Tioga, North Dakota, reported to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that the cargo's Reid Vapor Pressure tested at 10.8psi, well below the 13.7psi state requirement that went into effect on 1 April and the 12.4psi average that Hess submitted to the agency last month to comply with the new rule.

The derailment involved nonjacketed CPC-1232 tank cars, the railroad said. That is the design standard that the industry adopted voluntarily in October 2011 as an improvement on the decades-old DOT-111 design. The last six fiery crude-by-rail accidents have involved CPC-1232 cars.

The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on 1 May announced new tank car design rules that will be phased in over the next decade. Nonjacketed CPC-1232 tank cars will be authorized to move light crude until April 2020 under the new regulations.