DOT, FRA, and PHSMA issue crude oil-related emergency orders

Last week, the United States Department of Transportation took further steps to address various issues identified in recent train accidents involving crude oil and ethanol shipped by rail. The announcement was made by DOT with other DOT agencies, including the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

The concerns said that these actions will address various issues related to these recent accidents, of which there have been 23 that are crude-related going back to 2013, with the majority occurring without the release of any cruel product.

What’s more, these actions come at a time when crude-by-rail volume on trains continues to increase materially, especially in recent years. As previously reported, crude oil being transported out of the Bakken formation, which resides mainly in North Dakota and extends into Montana, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, produces more than ten percent of total U.S. oil production, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.

“The boom in crude oil production, and transportation of that crude, poses a serious threat to public safety,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “The measures we are announcing…are a result of lessons learned from recent accidents and are steps we are able to take today to improve safety. Our efforts in partnership with agencies throughout this Administration show that this is more than a transportation issue, and we are not done yet.” 

Some of the actions cited by DOT, FRA, and PHSMA include:
1-Preliminary investigation of one recent derailment indicates that a mechanical defect involving a broken tank car wheel may have caused or contributed to the incident.  The Federal Railroad Administration is therefore recommending that only the highest skilled inspectors conduct brake and mechanical inspections of trains transporting large quantities of flammable liquids, and that industry decrease the threshold for wayside detectors that measure wheel impacts, to ensure the wheel integrity of tank cars in those trains;
2-Recent accidents revealed that certain critical information about the train and its cargo needs to be immediately available for use by emergency responders or federal investigators who arrive on scene shortly after an incident.   To address the information gap, DOT is taking several actions to remind both the oil industry and the rail industry of their obligation to provide these critical details
PHMSA is issuing a safety advisory reminding carriers and shippers of the specific types of information that they must make immediately available to emergency responders;
FRA and PHMSA are issuing a joint safety advisory requesting that specific information also be made readily available to investigators;
FRA is sending a request to the Association of American Railroads asking the industry to develop a formal process by which this specific information becomes available to both emergency responders and investigators within 90 minutes of initial contact with an investigator, and;
FRA submitted to the Federal Register a notice proposing to expand the information collected on certain required accident reports, so that information specific to accidents involving trains transporting crude oil is reported.
3- DOT has determined that public safety compels issuance of an Emergency Order to require that trains transporting large amounts of Class 3 flammable liquid through certain highly populated areas adhere to a maximum authorized operating speed limit of 40 miles per hour in High Threat Urban Areas. Under the EO, an affected train is one that contains: 1) 20 or more loaded tank cars in a continuous block, or 35 or more loaded tank cars, of Class 3 flammable liquid; and, 2) at least one DOT Specification 111 (DOT-111) tank car (including those built in accordance with Association of American Railroads (AAR) Casualty Prevention Circular 1232 (CPC-1232)) loaded with a Class 3 flammable liquid.

These actions were mostly welcomed and endorsed by Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Ed Hamberger.

“The freight railroad industry shares the belief that there is no greater priority than safety. It is always our goal to make a safe network even safer, and as FRA data shows, 2014 was the safest year for train accidents in railroad history,” he said in a statement. “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. Overall, these federal provisions reflect the fact that moving crude by rail is a shared responsibility, involving a safety system of prevention, mitigation and response. Railroads, like all supply chain stakeholders, anxiously await the federal government’s final rules on tank cars, which directly addresses the heart of mitigation.”

But the AAR’s top executive also pointed out that some of the actions can be viewed as “problematic,” such as one of the agency’s advisories having railroads provide customer information they don’t possess and customers are not required to provide.

In July 2014, DOT released details regarding its rulemaking proposal designed to improve how large quantities of flammable materials by rail can be moved in a safer manner.

DOT’s proposal was in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and a companion Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (APRM).

While the details of the NPRM are comprehensive, an industry source whom declined to be identified said they could have been much worse for United States Class I railroads. The source described facets of this proposal as reasonable and manageable and would not stand as a significant impediment to moving CBR, which has become an excellent revenue generator for the railroads.

Prior to the release of this NPRM, there was speculation that the DOT would issue requirements of 25 mph-30 mph speed limits on CBR unit trains. Tony Hatch, principal of New York-based ABH Consulting, said that such a low speed limit would add to congestion even as the industry tries to rebound in velocity and terminal dwell and other service metrics.

This development followed steps taken by the DOT and the major U.S.-based Class I railroads to establish a rail operations safety initiative comprised of new voluntary operating standards for moving crude by rail. Key components of that initiative include: lower speeds; community relations; increased trackside safety technology; increased emergency response training and tuition assistance; and emergency response capability planning.