MARCH 12, 2015
Canada proposes tough new oil tank car standards and says
even improved tank cars coming into service now would have to be off the rails
by 2025 at the latest.
New cars would need thicker tank car walls and an outer
cover for thermal protection.
The announcement comes after a recent series of fiery
derailments in Canada and the U.S., including some that involved the newer,
improved rail cars, and as more oil increasingly travels by rail due to rising
production and a shortage of pipelines.
The move signals that the U.S. may adopt similar regulations
and will increase pressure on the rail car industry to produce enough new cars
on a tighter deadline.
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CANADA TOUGHENS OIL TANK CAR STANDARDS, WANTS EVEN NEW ONES
OUT BY 2025
MARCH 12, 2015
OTTAWA (REUTERS)
Canada proposed tough new oil tank car standards on
Wednesday and said even improved tank cars coming into service now would have
to be off the rails by 2025 at the latest.
The announcement comes after a rash of fiery derailments in
Canada and the United States, including some that involved the newer, improved
rail cars, and as more oil increasingly travels by rail due to higher output
and a shortage of pipelines.
The proposed standards call for a hull thickness of 9/16
inch, up from the current 7/16 inch or half inch, depending on car type. It
also makes thermal protection jackets and increased shields at each end of the
cars mandatory.
Older DOT-111 cars are being replaced in Canada by CPC-1232
cars, but even these will have to be phased out by 2023 or 2025, depending on
whether they are jacketed or not, under the proposed standards.
The proposed rules were welcomed by the Canadian Association
of Petroleum Producers, which represents the country's largest oil companies.
The group supports retrofitting the older model tankers and the phase in of
more robust cars.
"Rail is anticipated to remain an important mode of
transportation to transport Canadian crude to market," said Chelsie
Klassen, a spokeswoman for the lobby group.
"Given the integrated nature of the North American rail
network, there’s a need to harmonize Canadian and U.S. standards on rail car
standards."
Canada, which moved ahead of the United States in ruling
DOT-111 cars cannot carry crude as of May 2017, signaled it was prepared to
move faster than its neighbor on the latest standards.
Canada said the U.S. is following its own regulatory process
and will make its own decision on this standard. Nonetheless, Canada said the
new car will be called TC/DOT-117. TC stands for Transport Canada and DOT for
U.S. Department of Transportation.
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt told Reuters earlier that,
while the Washington and Ottawa are near agreement on a tougher standard for
oil tanker cars, they might diverge on the phase-in period.
"Time is of the essence for us," she said.
Derailments in the U.S. and Canada have added to pressure to
make tankers less vulnerable to rupture and explosion in the event of a mishap.
In July 2013, an oil train derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec,
killing 47 people. Long oil trains regularly pass through larger metropolitan
areas.
Although they are deemed somewhat safer than the older
DOT-111s, nine CPC-1232s ruptured in a fiery Canadian National Railway Co
accident in Ontario on Saturday.
Reuters previously reported that advanced braking systems -
electronically controlled pneumatic or ECP brakes - could be part of the
standard.
Transport Canada said on Wednesday it planned to include
braking requirements, including ECP, in separate regulations rather than the
tank car standards.
The U.S. rail industry has been pushing the White House to
drop the braking requirements, arguing that U.S. Transportation Department
estimates overstate the benefits and understate the costs of such systems.
A senior executive from Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd was
part of a delegation of more than a dozen rail executives who attended a
meeting with the White House Office of Management and Budget on March 6, where
the industry urged the Obama administration to scrap the proposed requirements
for ECP brakes.
"CP welcomes any progress toward the full
implementation of safer tank car standards," Martin Cej, a spokesman for
the railway, said in an email, though he declined comment on the possible
braking standard.
Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said the rules
calling for thicker tank walls were a "clear advance in tank car
safety."
The Railway Association of Canada, representing most of
Canada's railway companies, welcomed the new tank car standard, saying it had
wanted something more robust than CPC-1232s.
Source: Reuters.com