car Genesee & Wyoming train carrying North Dakota crude derailed and exploded in Alabama; 20 of the cars derailed. The flames reached 300 feet into the sky, accord- ing to Edward McAllister writing in Reuters. Eleven cars were burning hours later. The train was operated by two engineers, both unharmed, and the accident occurred in Pickens County in western Alabama. The broader problem: Of course, disas- ters of this magnitude often have domino- like reverberations, and the Lac-Mégantic inferno and oil train accidents that followed were not exceptions. The Wall Street Journal reported that “groups are vowing to stop projects that would increase the number of oil trains rumbling through communities.” Companies anticipating shipping crude from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to the West Coast are running into “obstacles.” One would think that moving the crude to
Washington State and transferring it to barges for shipment south to California would be a trouble-free proposition. Think again. About a half-dozen companies, just for starters, are trying to build train yards and tank farms for that crude, but getting a permit from Washington State is proving to be more difficult than expected. The energy firms say the risks are mini- mal and are a bargain compared to what it would cost to ship directly to California. But the Sierra Club claims the whole enterprise “raises serious concerns about the risk of transporting crude by rail.” Railroads promote standards: Ameri-
ca’s railroads themselves are asking regula- tors to see to it that all currently existing tank cars carrying crude oil, ethanol, and other flammable liquids are fortified so as to avoid accidents, either through upgrading or “aggressively” phasing out whatever lacks necessary standards. “We believe it’s time for a thorough review of the U.S. tank car fleet,” according to AAR President Edward R. Hamberger, “particu- larly considering the recent increase is oil traffic. Our goal,” he added, “is to ensure that what we move, and how we move it, is done as safely as possible.” The recommendations included increas- ing car design standards; additional up- grades for cars built since 2011; the quick phase-out (mentioned above) of card carry- ing flammable liquids that are not retrofit- ted to meet new federal standards; and elim- inate the current option for rail shippers to classify a flammable liquid with a flashpoint between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit as a combustible liquid. As for a deadline? The railroads and other involved industries are leaving that decision to the Pipeline Hazardous and Pipeline Safety Administration. “Freight railroads understand that the rail supply marketplace is seeing an in- creased demand for tank cars needed to move flammable liquids,” Hamberger said. “We believe our suggested approach to tank car safety allow railroads to continue to serve their customers, while taking rail tank car safety to the next level.” Hill bill: On Capitol Hill, Rep, Rob An- drews (D-N.J.) has introduced a pair of leg- islative efforts to reduce dangerous situa- tions on the rails. He would require regular independent inspections by certified engi- neers of all railway bridges, signals and switches. The other measure would create a Federal Incident Commander to ensure
county, state, and responders are consulted after a train accident occurs.
All That Glitters? Who would have thought a “new gold” would emerge in the form of — sand? The fracking boom in oil and gas has enabled sand to join the “club” of over-the-top value substances on the market. More than 56 billion pounds this year alone are estimated to be blasted down wells to crack the rock that lets oil and natural flow out. This is the relatively new method called “fracking,” of which this column has written extensively in recent times. Fracking has caused the use of sand to in- crease by 25 per cent just in the last two years. Of special value to the leading frack- ing operators is Wisconsin white sand, de- scribed in this space several issues back. The railroads: The freight railroads are carrying sand by the boxcars full to shale oil fields including West Texas, New Mexico, and North Dakota. The Wall Street Journal reports that Union Pacific shipped 94,000 railcars filled with the stuff in the first half of this year, a 20 per cent jump over 2012. Canadian National is spending $68 million to upgrade/restore more than 100 miles of track in Wisconsin so it can better reach the “new gold” there.
Civil War Tunnel Not all needed infrastructure improvements in the rail industry center around the ur- gency of avoiding accidents and saving lives. Some of them are reflective of the fact that some fixtures of one of America’s oldest in- dustries are — well — old. Old, old: A federally-funded engineering study began in November to review options to rebuild or replace the old 140-year B&P tunnel that snakes beneath the city of Balti- more, where an Amtrak engine derailed as recently as November 18, tying up traffic in the rush hour on the Northeast corridor. (History buffs know that 1873, when the tunnel was built, was the year Ulysses S. Grant was in the post-Civil War White House and the Pennsylvania Railroad broke the B&O’s state-protected monopoly on the Washington, D.C., market by sneaking in through the back door, so to speak.) The tunnel’s sharp curves restrict trains
(including the 150 m.p.h. Acela Express) to 30 m.p.h. Add to that the problems caused by broken water mains and the tunnel’s sheer age, and you have a chokepoint for its daily traffic of 85 Amtrak runs, 60 MARC commuter trains, and frequent Norfolk Southern freight traffic. Clearly, the time has come to cough up the estimated $1.5 bil- lion, says Drew Galloway, Amtrak’s chief of Northeast Corridor Infrastructure. “What’s the alternative?” He rhetorically asks the Baltimore Sun. “Shutting down the Northeast corridor?”
The “Desert Rat” Lobby For at least a quarter century, supporters of more and better rail transit service in my backyard — Montgomery County Md. (sub- urban Washington, D.C.) —have been push- ing for the Purple Line,a light rail service proposed to connect Montgomery and its neighbor Prince Georges County. It is a bad- ly needed service that would connect with all five of the Metrorail subway at four sta- tions along the line. Metrorail is the best thing that ever happened to the Washington
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