Category:

West Virginia Oil Train That Derailed Was Traveling Under Speed Limit

ENLARGE The CSX train that derailed near Mount Carbon, W.Va., was going 33 miles an hour in a 50 mph zone, said Sarah Feinberg, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration. Photo: Office of the Governor of West Virginia/Associated Press The crude-oil train that derailed and exploded in West Virginia on Monday was traveling well below the track’s speed limit, according to an onboard recording system, a federal official said Thursday. Sarah Feinberg, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said the CSX Corp. train that derailed near Mount Carbon, W.Va., was going 33 miles an hour in a 50 mph zone. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation, and Ms. Feinberg said investigators would look at the condition of the rails, tanker car wheels and other factors that could have contributed to the accident. Investigators have so far examined outward-facing video footage from the train, as well […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

NTSB: Oil by rail needs scrutiny after W. Va. incident

The National Transportation Safety Board estimated 28 tank cars of the 109 from a CSX line slipped the rails early Monday afternoon near Mt. Carbon, W. Va. The state Department of Military Affairs & Public Safety estimated that about a dozen of the cars were carrying crude oil, which would equate to approximately 8,000 barrels. The NTSB said an undetermined amount of crude oil spilled into an area river. U.S. crude oil production levels are more than the existing pipeline infrastructure can handle, forcing energy companies to use rail as an alternative transit method. The increase in crude oil transport by rail has raised safety concerns, most notably in the wake of a deadly 2013 accident in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Most rail incidents involving crude oil spills were tied to cars labeled DOT-111. The incident in West Virginia involved newer model cars designated CPC 1232. "This accident is another reminder […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

CSX train hauling North Dakota oil derails, cars ablaze in West Virginia

BECKLEY, W.Va. (Reuters) – A CSX Corp train hauling North Dakota crude derailed in West Virginia on Monday, setting a number of cars ablaze, destroying a house and forcing the evacuation of two towns in the second significant oil-train incident in three days. One or two of the cars plunged into the Kanawha River, and “a couple are burning," said Robert Jelacic, night shift manager of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. There were no injuries or deaths, he said. CSX said the train was hauling 109 cars from North Dakota to the coastal town of Yorktown, Virginia, where midstream firm Plains All American Pipelines runs an oil depot. It said one person was being treated for potential fume inhalation. West Virginia State Police First Sergeant Greg Duckworth, who was at the crash site, told Reuters that nine or 10 of the cars had exploded […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil-Train Fireball Seen Adding Pressure for U.S. Safety Decision

Derailed oil tanker train cars burn near Mount Carbon, West Virginia, on Feb. 16, 2015. Photographer: Marcus Constantino/The Daily Mail via AP Photo (Bloomberg) — Video images of a fireball boiling from the wreckage of a derailed train hauling Bakken crude are adding to pressure on federal regulators to act on new safety standards for oil shipments. While there were no fatalities in the CSX Corp. accident in rural West Virginia on Monday, the footage of flames and smoke rekindles public alarm over the prospect of tank cars rumbling through urban areas, according to a former U.S. Transportation Department official and a railroad consultant. “It weakens the railroad’s and the industry’s ability to argue on the merits” to shape the government’s decision, Brigham McCown, a former chief of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said by phone Tuesday. “In Washington, D.C., perception is reality. Railroads have to get […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Train Derails and Ignites Forcing West Virginia Evacuations

A fire burns after a train derailment near Charleston, West Virginia on Feb. 16, 2015. (Bloomberg) — A CSX Corp. train carrying Bakken oil from North Dakota derailed and ignited in West Virginia, forcing some residents to flee their homes in frigid weather while cutting power and threatening drinking water. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for Kanawha and Fayette counties as the train’s operator worked with emergency responders at the scene. One person was treated for possible smoke inhalation and fire broke out on up to 15 of an estimated 27 derailed cars, said Lawrence Messina, a spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. There are about 85 people in local shelters and more may be in hotels following the derailment that occurred early Monday afternoon, according to Messina. Fire damaged power lines while the town of Montgomery shut an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada railway strike ends after government threatens bill

OTTAWA, Canada (AP) — Canada’s labor minister said Monday the Canadian Pacific Railway strike had ended, with both sides agreeing to resume discussions. News of the deal came after Canada’s Conservative government threatened to introduce legislation to force an end to the strike by more than 3,000 Teamsters members, saying the strike posed a threat to the economy. In a surprise news conference, Labor Minister Kellie Leitch welcomed the willingness by both sides to resume talks, a development that had seemed impossible just hours earlier. The strike by 3,300 locomotive engineers and other train workers began just after midnight Sunday after contract talks failed. Leitch had said the strike could cost the economy more than $200 million in lost GDP every week. Teamsters union president Douglas Finnson called the government’s intervention in the strike disappointing and premature. CP Rail supported the move. Leitch had said the strike would affect […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canadian National’s Main Line Shuts After Crude Cars Derail

(Bloomberg) — Canadian National Railway Co. shut its main line linking western and eastern Canada after an eastbound train carrying crude oil derailed in Ontario. The train of 100 cars, all carrying crude from Canada’s oil-producing region of Alberta to eastern Canada, derailed just before midnight Saturday in a remote and wooded area about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Gogama, Ontario, spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an e-mail. About 18 freight trains a day use the line, he said. A total of 29 cars were involved in the incident and seven caught fire. The remaining 71 cars were moved from the site, Waldron said. Some oil was spilled. Shipments scheduled along the affected corridor will be delayed by at least 24 hours, the company said. Canadian oil producers have grown dependent on shipping crude by rail as pipeline capacity has become constrained. The shutdown happened as locomotive engineers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Train Carrying Crude Oil Derails in Ontario

A train carrying crude oil and operated by Canadian National Railway Co. derailed near the town of Timmins in northern Ontario just before midnight on Saturday, causing a fire but no reported injuries. The train derailed in a remote wooded area, according to a spokesman for Montreal-based CN, Canada’s largest railroad company. He said the railway company had deployed firefighting and environmental crews to the scene. The cause of the incident wasn’t yet known, he said. “Our emergency crews continue to conduct a full site assessment to determine the number of rail cars derailed and involved in the fire, and if any product has been spilled,” said CN spokesman Patrick Waldron in an emailed statement on Sunday afternoon. “Seventy-one cars of the 100-car train have been safely moved away from the derailment site. Early site assessments indicate that at total of 29 cars are involved in the incident. That […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Threatened Canadian Rail Strike Seen Weakening Heavy Oil Prices

(Bloomberg) — Canadian crude prices near a six-year low may weaken further should workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd carry through with threats to strike this weekend. The company faces a work stoppage as soon as Feb. 15 by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference and Unifor Local 101R, which represent a combined 5,000 workers. Canadian Pacific will deploy managers “to maintain a reduced freight service” on its Canadian lines. Canadian oil companies have increasingly relied on rail cars to deliver crude produced in Alberta to refineries as far away as the U.S. Gulf Coast. Canadian Pacific delivered 110,000 carloads of crude last year, 22 percent more than in 2013, according to company data. Without “enough trains operating, I could see how it will delay the deliveries of crude shipments,” Dinara Millington, a vice president at the Canadian Energy Research Institute, said by phone Friday. “The prices of WCS could decline […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Revised Oil-Train Safety Rule Said to Push Back Upgrade Deadline

(Bloomberg) — The Obama administration revised its proposal to prevent oil trains from catching fire in derailments, giving companies more time to upgrade their fleets but sticking with a requirement that new tank cars have thicker walls and better brakes. The changes, described by three people familiar with the proposal who asked not to be identified because the plan has not been made public, are in proposed regulations the U.S. Transportation Department sent to the White House last week for review prior to being released. The administration is revising safety standards after a series of oil-train accidents, including a 2013 disaster in Canada that killed 47 people when a runaway train derailed and blew up. Earlier this month a train carrying ethanol derailed and caught fire outside of Dubuque, Iowa. No one was hurt. Companies that own tank cars opposed the aggressive schedule for modifying cars in the DOT’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple