DAKOTAS RAILROAD MAPS BNSF, Canadian Pacific, Shortlines


Concise, clear maps of today’s railroading presented by subdivision for ease in following your favorite line.


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Life on a Locomotive


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LONGEST DAY 2013 - BNSF CHICAGO RACEWAY


JUNE 20 Full Day along the Triple Track - #8 in the "Longest Days" Series Explore Unique Station Architecture along the "Q" between Riverside and Downers Grove.


Disaster, Safety and Passenger Costs


AS THIS COLUMN GOES TO DEADLINE, the cat- astrophic train derailment at the small Canadian town of Lac-Megantic has de- stroyed some 30 buildings, and days later, the body count was still rising. The accident on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic literally wiped out much of the small community, some 22 miles from Maine on the U.S. border. The “runaway train” of more than 70 tank cars careened out of control as it was barrel- ing unmanned through the town. Scores of patrons at a nearby bar/restaurant were en- joying a warm “night on the town.” It was days before rescuers could even hope to reach that facility. The engineer, Tom Harding had left the train unattended overnight to sleep at a lo- cal inn. Edward Burkhardt, CEO of the MMA’s American-based parent company Rail World, Inc, questioned whether Hard- ing had properly set enough hand brakes. Harding’s lawyer, Thomas Walsh, said he be- lieved Burkhardt would be well-advised not to make any kind of public statement about the accident until the dust settles (for more on the accident see this month’s RAILNEWS).


The Irony One Hour Fifty Six Minutes LONGEST DAY 2013 -


BNSF CHICAGO RACEWAY JUNE 20 Full Day along the Triple Track #8 in the "Longest Days" Series


For 63 years silver Bi-Level cars have carried commuters be- tween Chicago Union Station and the many suburbs lining the 38-mile route west to Aurora. METRA's busiest route includes several rush hour express runs all the way to Naperville. Lay- ered on top of these nearly 100 daily silver trains are dozens of freight trains - Powder River coal, North Dakota oil, dou- blestack and piggyback, auto and general freight. Plus eight AMTRAK runs. They all roll by the downtown districts of La Grange, Riverside, and Downers grove, and highball past the small Highlands station which occupies the first portion of our June 20 all-day stand. A few scenes take you back to earlier decades to view the "Q", unique architecture and the last of the BN E-Units. The complete consists of many freights are included. You will see signals in the process of being replaced, and track workers redesigning a set of crossovers. From or- ange ball sunrise to a near full moon in evening, enjoy a day along the triple track!!!1 Hour 56 Minutes.


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The incineration of much of an entire town occurred within hours of a long-planned meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers in Lake Geneva, Wis. Theme of the confab was “Riding the Rails to Economic Recovery,” but of course, the tragedy of Lac- Megantic figured prominently in the confer- ence discussions. Keynoter was Watco CEO Rick Webb, who spoke of the need to sort the issues of how and what happened and then “fix what needs to be fixed.” Teresa Perkins, General Director-Petroleum for BNSF Rail- way, added that when the causes are deter- mined, the rail industry will act collectively to do what is necessary.


The accident revived more discussion about the long-sought crash-preventive technology known as Positive Train Control (PTC). Others said that is a totally separate issue. (More on PTC below)


What Is At Stake?


Railroads move about 700,000 barrels of crude oil just in one day, both imported and domestic, based on a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). For a large part of that, you can credit the huge jump in the past five years in North Dakota, which is now the second largest oil producer in the nation, after Texas. One rail analyst, Toby Kolstad of Rail Theory Forecasts, says the demand for tank cars has skyrocketed just for Canadian Pa- cific alone, and that the backlog is close to 48,000, and that perhaps as many as 30,000 are related to crude petroleum. By the end of 2014, he figures, there will be enough tank cars to move two million barrels a day. That is about three times what is currently ex- tracted from the Bakken shale basin, Kol- stad points out.


Notwithstanding that the Canadian calamity is destined to raise new questions


about the safety of pipelines vs. rail for crude oil, writer Yadullah Hussain reports that on any given week, “three to seven [CPR] trains laden with crude oil from the North Dakota Bakken field whisk across North America, bypassing the pipeline bot- tlenecks in mid-continent that are depressing oil prices, [and thus the rail transport is] un- affected by the noise in Washington, D.C., that is holding back the Keystone XL pipeline.” The disaster, of course, assures there will be more conversations on this issue. But as Hussain writes, it would appear the general explosion in the energy business(occasioned largely by the “fracking” technology as ap- plied in various ways to shale oil and natu- ral gas) comports quite well with the notion that it is not “either or,” that both rail and pipelines are in the energy business to stay. So dump rail for pipelines? Analysts tell us essentially to forget that. Rails account for a huge portion of the task of moving fuel to market, and that’s pretty much a done deal. Rick Webb of Watco told his shipper audi- ence, “I hope the Canadian and U.S. govern- ments react intelligently and prudently on this. The California [rail] accident [in 2008 that killed 25 and injured many more] led to PTC, and PTC on the MMA would not have prevented this.”


Despite an opinion expressed by local law enforcement that the Lac-Megantic tragedy might have involved a criminal act, most consider that unlikely, though it has not been entirely ruled out.


Speaking of PTC


The freight rail industry has been pushing for a three-year delay on the FRA’s 2015 deadline for implementing universal Positive Train Control (PTC) safety measures on America’s railroads. Edward R. Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) has told a congressional hearing the industry has already spent $3 billion on PTC, an un- funded mandate. Hamberger added he was “sick and tired” of hearing demands the rail- roads “put the pedal to the metal” and hurry up and get the PTC done. His members have been working at maximum speed, he said, be- cause they understand that “the sooner it gets done, the better.” When challenged on the timeline issue,


Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Sz- abo conceded that the original goal of De- cember 31, 2015, was “virtually impossible”, and said the FRA was willing to accommo- date the more recently proposed (by the AAR) deadline of December 31, 2018, as more realistic. He quickly added, however, his agency would “work with” the railroads to make certain that “due diligence” was ap- plied in pursuit of the goal.


Safety vs. Safety?


There were those at the hearing who ques- tioned whether mandating arbitrary dead- lines in the interest of safety might actually hinder —well — safety.


Hamberger said the industry could be cer- tain of 90 per cent installation of equipment


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