Railroads to Adopt Voluntary Crude By Rail Safety Initiative

A voluntary safety initiative addressing shipment of crude oil by rail has been announced by the USDOT and the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Under the voluntary initiative, major U.S. Railroads will agree to the following steps, outlined in the attached letter from USDOT Secretary, Anthony Foxx:

1. Effective March 25, 2014, one additional internal rail test (i.e. ultrasonic testing) will be conducted each year, and at least two track geometry inspections per year, on track over which crude traffic runs.

2. Route analysis requirements under 49 CFR 171.820(c) will apply to trains transporting 20 or more loaded tank cars carrying petroleum crude oil, which are to be termed "Key Crude Oil Trains."

3. Key Crude Oil Trains with at least one USDOT 111 type tank car, not meeting AAR Circular CPC-1232 requirements, will be restricted to 40 mph, effective July 1, 2014 or before.

4. By July 1, 2014 the participating railroads will have installed wayside defect detectors to detect overheated bearings at intervals of 40 miles, over which Key Crude Oil trains operate.

5. AAR and the railroads will develop an inventory of emergency response resources along the routes over which Key Crude Oil Trains operate.

6. Railroads are to agree to jointly fund $5 million for training emergency responders to rail accidents involving crude oil shipments.

Rail Associations Call for Stricter Tank Car Standards

Two industry associations representing virtually all North American Railroads have called for the USDOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to require tank cars carrying flammable liquids be built to more stringent standards, or be upgraded for existing tank cars. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), and the American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), jointly tendered comments to the PHMSA today. A copy of the joint filing is attached here.

Despite the excellent overall safety record of haz mat transport by rail, the Associations cited the recent Lac Megantic catastrophe as motivation for the industry to reevaluate tank car standards, which in fact had been increased just in 2011. Among the proposals AAR and ASLRRA make are to require newly built tank cars carrying flammable liquids to have steel jackets around the tank car, thermal protection, full car-height head shields, and high flow capacity pressure release valves. In addition to newly built cars, the comments call for the retrofit of cars built since 2011, and before, to comply with any new construction standards, and to phase out older cars that cannot be retrofitted.

The PHMSA docket at issue is PHMSA-2012-0082 - "Hazardous Materials: Rail Petitions and Recommendations to Improve the Safety of Rail Tank Car Transportation."

GAO Agrees Railroads Won't Meet 2015 Positive Train Control Deadline

The Government Accountability Office (GOA) released a report yesterday on the status of the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems on major freight and commuter railroads. The Report, attached here, was prepared at the request of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and was originally provided to him on August 16, 2013.

The GAO's findings, and recommendations, mirror what the FRA determined one year ago in the FRA's own report to congress on PTC implementation. According to the most recent GAO report, only one major railroad, BNSF, will meet the current statutory deadline of 2015 for PTC. The GAO even doubts industry estimates by the AAR that compliance could be accomplished by the end of 2018.

GAO recommends that Congress amend the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) to permit the FRA to:

(1) extend PTC deadlines on individual rail lines, and grant incremental extensions on a case-by-case basis;

(2) grant provisional certification of PTC systems under controlled conditions before final system certification (to address the concern of delays in certification following compliance deadlines caused by FRA resource limitations);

(3) approve the use of alternative safety technologies in lieu of PTC if PTC functions can be met by other means.

NTSB Issues Rail Safety Recommendations Following 2009 Ethanol Derailment

On March 2, 2012, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), issued 15 Rail Safety recommendations related to the June 19, 2009 CN derailment in Cherry Valley, Illinois. In the accident,13 of the 19 derailed ethanol tank cars were breached and caught fire, causing one fatality and several injuries.

The Board had previously determined the probable cause of the derailment was a washout of the track structure discovered before the arrival of the train which derailed. The Board's recommendations range from advising railroads and public entities to assess trackside stormwater drainage, to tank car integrity and crashworthiness improvements.

Among the recommendations related to rail tank cars, are the Board's recommendations that existing DOT-111 tank cars carrying ethanol be retrofitted to improve shell puncture resistance and prevent exposed valve fittings from opening in an accident. (R12-6 - R12-8).

The call to retrofit some 40,000 in service tank cars carrying ethanol is likely to be controversial, given the conservative estimate of the Railway Supply Institute of the retrofitting to be $1 billion dollars.

The Recommendations, which are not mandatory, are attached here:

R-12-1 & 2

R-12-3 and 4, reiteration of R-07-2

R-12-5 through 8, reiteration of R-07-4

R-12-9

R-12-10

R-12-11

R-12-12 through 15