FEBRUARY 24, 201
TORONTO, CANADA
Update on derailment
and fire of Canadian National crude oil train near Gogama, Ontario
The occurrence
On 14 February 2015, a Canadian National (CN) crude oil unit
train was proceeding eastward on CN's Ruel Subdivision near Gogama, Ontario.
The train crew was composed of a locomotive engineer and a conductor. The train
was equipped with 2 head-end locomotives hauling 100 Class 111
tank cars, 68 loaded with Petroleum Crude Oil (UN 1267) and
32 loaded with Petroleum Distillates (UN 1268). The train was 6089
feet long and weighed 14 355 tons.
At about 23:50, while travelling at 38 mph, the train
crew felt a heavy tug on the train and a train-initiated emergency brake
application occurred near Mile 111.6. Subsequently, the crew observed a fire
about 10 cars behind the locomotives, so they detached the locomotives
from the train. The temperature at the time was -31°C and a slow order (speed
restriction) of 40 mph was in place.
The train was designated as a “Key Train”Footnote
1 operating on a “Key Route”.Footnote
2 The accident occurred in a remote area, and the CN Emergency Response
Assistance Plan (ERAP) was implemented. There were no injuries reported, and no
evacuation was required. The product in several cars was allowed to burn. All
fires were extinguished by 20 February 2015.
What we know
Site examination determined that the 7th to the
35th cars behind the locomotives (29 cars in total) had derailed.
During the derailment, a number of cars were breached, released product, and
ignited a large fire that initially involved 7 of the derailed cars.
Additional product was subsequently released, and a total of 21 cars sustained
fire damage ranging from minor to severe. About 900 feet of track was
destroyed.
While firefighters dealt with the fire, investigators from
the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) were able to examine the site
and recover a section of broken rail containing a rail joint and a broken
wheel, that are of interest. All recovered rail components and the broken wheel
were sent to the TSB Engineering Laboratory in Ottawa for further analysis.
Tank cars
The TSB conducted a preliminary damage assessment of all
derailed tank cars. All of the Class 111 tank cars were constructed in the
last 3 years, and were compliant with the industry’s CPC-1232 standard. In
comparison with the other general service “legacy” Class 111 tank cars,
these cars have some enhancements which include half-head shields, improved top
and bottom fitting protection, and normalized steel.
The preliminary assessment revealed that 2 tank cars at
the head-end of the derailment sustained minor damage and 2 tank cars at
the tail-end of the derailment had no damage. The remaining 25 derailed
tank cars sustained more significant damage. At least 19 of the 25 tank
cars were breached or partially breached and released various amounts of
product. It is estimated that a total of over 1 million litres of product
was released, either to the atmosphere or to the ground. The amount of product
released will be determined more precisely as site mitigation and clean-up
continue.
The accident occurred at 38 mph. Initial impressions are
that the Class 111 tank cars, which were compliant with the CPC-1232
standard, performed similarly to those involved in the Lac-Mégantic accident
which occurred at 65 mph.
Transportation of
flammable liquids by rail
The transportation
of flammable liquids by rail has been identified as one of the key risks to
the transportation system and it is included on the TSB’s 2014
Watchlist. The TSB has been pointing out the vulnerability of
Class 111 tank cars for years, and the Board has called for tougher
standards for all Class 111 tank cars, not just new ones, to reduce
the likelihood of product release during accidents. In Lac-Mégantic,
investigators found that even at lower speeds, the unprotected Class 111
tank cars ruptured, releasing crude oil which fuelled the fire. Consequently,
until a more robust tank car standard with enhanced protection is implemented
for North America, the risk will remain.
In response to the TSB’s recommendation, Transport Canada
(TC) formalized the CPC-1232 standard in January 2014 as a requirement for all
new tank cars built for the transportation of flammable liquids. The TSB has
warned TC that this standard was not sufficient and that more needed to be done
to provide an adequate level of protection. Preliminary assessment of the
CPC-1232-compliant tank cars involved in this occurrence demonstrates the
inadequacy of this standard given the tank cars’ similar performance to the
legacy Class 111 tanks cars involved in the Lac-Mégantic accident.
“The TSB has been calling for tougher standards for
Class 111 tank cars for several years,” said Jean L. Laporte,
TSB’s Chief Operating Officer.“ Here is yet another example of tank cars being
breached, and we once again urge Transport Canada to expedite the introduction
of enhanced protection standards to reduce the risk of product loss when these
cars are involved in accidents.”
Next steps
The investigation is ongoing and the next steps include the
following:
1.
Examination of rail components and suspect wheel
recovered from the derailment site
2.
Sampling and testing of product from select cars
3.
Review of Wheel Impact Load Detector records for
subject train and 2 previous trains
4.
Review of all track infrastructure maintenance
records for the area
5.
Review of CN Engineering Track Standards and
cold weather policy
6.
Review of TC-approved Track Safety Rules
7.
Review and evaluation of ERAP and emergency
response
8.
Conducting additional interviews as required.
Once all remaining product has been removed from the tank
cars and they have been cleaned and purged, the TSB will complete a detailed
damage assessment of the cars. The object of the assessment is to compare the
performance of these tank cars against the known performance of the legacy
Class 111 tank cars that were involved in the Lac-Mégantic accident. This
may also include further failure analysis, testing and metallurgical
examination at the TSB Engineering Laboratory.
Communication of
safety deficiencies
Should the investigation team uncover safety deficiencies
that present an immediate risk, the Board will communicate them without delay
so they may be addressed quickly and the rail system made safer.
The information posted is factual in nature and does not
contain any analysis. Analysis of the accident and the Findings of the Board
will be part of the final report. The investigation is ongoing.
//----------------------------------------------------------------//
A fiery oil train derailment in Ontario this month suggests
new safety requirements for tank cars carrying flammable liquids are inadequate,
Canada’s transport safety board announced Monday.
The accident was the latest in a spate of fiery derailments
in Canada and the U.S., a trend which American safety officials say drives home
the need for stronger tank cars, more effective braking systems and other
safety improvements.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board said the tank cars
involved in the Feb. 14 train derailment met upgraded standards that started to
be instituted in Canada last year for new tank cars carrying crude and other
flammable liquids. But it said the Class 111, 1232 standard cars still
“performed similarly” to those involved in the derailment in Lac-Megantic,
Quebec that killed 47 people two years ago. That accident predated the changes.
“This was supposed to be a better quality car. So far we
haven’t seen that better performance,” Rob Johnston, a senior Transportation
Safety Board official, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The U.S. and Canada are trying to coordinate on even newer
tank car standards. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx met with safety
officials in Canada in December to discuss the issue but neither country has
yet settled on a new tank car design, though the U.S. is getting closer.
Transportation officials recently sent a proposal for new tank car standards to
the White House budget office for review.
In both cases in Canada, the tank cars ruptured and released
crude oil, which fed the flames. Much of downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, was
destroyed on July 6, 2013, by a raging fire caused when an unattended train
derailed. Several train cars exploded and 40 buildings were leveled.
The Canadian government has warned the Obama administration
that if pipelines like the controversial Keystone XL pipeline are not built
Canadian oil would instead continue to be shipped by rail cars.
The latest Canadian derailment, involving a Canadian
National Railway Co. train, happened in a remote area 50 miles (80 kilometers)
south of Timmins, Ontario. There were no injuries or evacuations. It took
almost a week in subzero temperatures for the fires to burn out.
Two days after the Ontario derailment, a train loaded with
crude derailed in West Virginia, sparking a spectacular fire and forcing the
evacuation of hundreds of families.
Both the West Virginia accident and the oil train derailment
and fire in Ontario involved recently built tank cars that were supposed to be
an improvement to a decades-old model in wide use that has proven susceptible
to spills, fires and explosions.
But the Canadian safety board said at least 19 of the 25
cars in the Ontario derailment were breached or partially breached and
estimated that more than 1 million liters (0.26 million gallons) of crude were
released. The board said the train was traveling at a lower speed than the train
in Lac Megantic.
The agency said this month’s incident “demonstrates the
inadequacy” of the new standards and is urging Canada’s transport regulator to
quickly introduce enhanced protection standards. The amount of crude traveling
by train has soared in recent years.
Safety officials are pushing to make the tanker-car fleet
even stronger but are confronting opposition from energy companies and other
tank car owners. Industry representatives say it could take a decade to
retrofit and modify more than 50,000 tank cars, not the three years anticipated
by U.S. federal officials, who assumed many cars would be put to new use
hauling less-volatile Canadian oil-sands oil.
A U.S. proposal for new tank car standards is still under
wraps but is in the works, and it’s expected to include significant safety
enhancements to the 1232 design beyond what the oil industry has said is
acceptable.
Zach Segal, a spokesman for Canada’s Transport minister,
said Monday that Transport Canada, in collaboration with the U.S., is developing
a next generation standard of tank car for the transport of flammable liquids
that would be more robust than the current 1232 standard.
Chris Hart, the acting chairman of the U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board, in a blog post on Monday called the 1232 cars a
“marginal” improvement over the legacy DOT-111 cars. He urged federal
regulators to act swiftly to set new tank car standards, noting that while the
government is deliberating there are more 1232 cars being produced
and entering service.
The U.S. federal government predicts that trains hauling
crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year over the next
two decades, causing more than $4 billion in damage and possibly killing
hundreds of people if an accident happens in a densely populated part of the
U.S. The projection, first reported by the AP, comes from a previously
unreported analysis by the Department of Transportation that reviewed the risks
of moving vast quantities of both fuels across the nation and through major cities.