Crews clean up on Friday, Nov. 14, 2014, after two BNSF trains derailed just west of Casselton, N.D., on Thursday. BNSF Railway officials said it appears that a broken rail caused a derailment which affected 21 cars of an eastbound train carrying lumber and paper and 12 cars of a westbound train carrying empty oil tankers. There was no fire or hazardous waste spilled and no one was hurt. (AP Photo/Bruce Crummy)
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December 29, 2015 5:29 pm • By Nick Smith
Rail improvements seen as ongoing
Members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation say much improvement has been made in the area of rail safety and first responder training
Officials say two years after a fiery derailment in the eastern part of the state improvements have been made in rail safety, as well as increased training of first responders, but it’s a work in progress.
The incident that brought increased attention to the issue occurred on Dec. 30, 2013, when a train carrying grain had derailed near the town of Casselton. Shortly after this a train traveling the opposite direction carrying crude oil derailed and collided with the first train.
The BNSF Railway derailment caused several explosions, a leak of approximately 400,000 gallons of crude and a large plume of smoke which prompted a voluntary evacuation for nearly 24 hours.
BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth said across the entire BNSF system the company’s train accident rate dropped 6 percent from 2013 to 2014. From 2005 to 2014 it dropped 43 percent systemwide. The numbers come from FRA data. Detailed accident data and investigation reports on derailments can be found at the FRA’s website at www.fra.dot.gov.
Since Casselton, McBeth said the company provided training for more than 1,000 first responders at hazmat training sessions across the state in the past year. The rail industry overall in 2014 paid for the tuition for more than 1,500 first responders nationally to attend courses at the Colorado facility.
BNSF also set its speed limit for all trains hauling crude going through cities of 100,000 or more at 35 miles per hour.
“North Dakota’s an important part of our rail network. We are always working with local officials in the unlikely event of an incident,” she said, adding that the training also helps maintain regular contact with local officials.
In fall 2014 a total of $5 million of federal funding also was authorized for the training of first responders who respond to hazmat incidents such as train derailments. The dollars allow first responders to train at a federal facility in Pueblo, Colo. Agencies can apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Approximately 90 North Dakota first responders have utilized the training through the federal funding in 2014 and 2015.
Bismarck Fire Department Battalion Chief Rob Carlson said, in the last year or so, about a dozen members have gone to Colorado for the training. Without the federal dollars he said their ability for such training would be diminished.
“If we didn’t have that assistance to send them there, I don’t think we’d be having that in our budget,” Carlson said. “The more people that get that hands-on training the better. We’re getting pretty well prepared.”
Carlson said the department does training at least once a year on responding to a rail incident. He said a tabletop exercise is tentatively scheduled to take place in the next month or two.
He said the key concern is if a major incident occurred in downtown Bismarck and an evacuation of the thousands of people living and working near the railroad tracks were to occur.
Carlson said the issue is one that’s “in the forefront” of the department’s mind.
In May another incident occurred, this one near the town of Heimdal, about 80 miles southeast of Minot. Six cars carrying Bakken crude oil from western North Dakota on the BNSF line derailed, four of which burned. The Heimdal incident also prompted a brief evacuation.
According to the Association of American Railroads the amount of crude oil being transported by rail car has spiked sharply since the late 2000s. In 2008 about 9,500 carloads of crude oil originated by rail; in 2014 this had grown to more than 493,000 carloads. This increase has been attributed to the rise in production from shale formations across the country including North Dakota.