Category: Railroads

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Association of American Railroads Note: These carloadings do not include intermodal traffic. U.S. rail traffic, including carloadings of all commodity types, has increased 4.5% through October 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Crude oil and petroleum products had the second-biggest increase in carloadings through the first 10 months of this year, with these shipments occurring in parts of the country where there is also strong demand to move coal and grain by rail. In response to shipper concerns over the slow movement of crude oil, coal, grain, ethanol, and propane, federal regulators are closely tracking service among the major U.S. freight railroad companies. Rail carloadings of oil and petroleum products totaled 672,118 tank cars during January-October 2014, 13.4% higher compared to the same period last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Rising U.S. crude oil production, particularly […]

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Bakken crude oil output responsible for increase in rail deliveries, U.S. report finds. (Photo: Daniel J. Graeber) Crude oil production from North Dakota is more than the U.S. pipeline network can handle, forcing refiners to use rail, a federal report said Thursday. The Energy Information Administration said in a daily briefing the amount of oil and petroleum products shipped on the U.S. rail system increased more than 10 percent year-on-year. "Rising U.S. crude oil production, particularly in North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation, where pipeline takeaway capacity is limited in moving the state’s growing oil volumes to market, is one of the main reasons for this increase in rail shipments of petroleum and petroleum products," EIA said in a daily briefing. North Dakota’s government said oil production in August , the last full month for which data are available, was 1.13 million barrels per day, an all-time high. More than […]

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Regulators set to decide on crude-by-rail shipping rules are relying on testing methods that may understate the explosive risk of the crude, according to a growing chorus of industry and Canadian officials.  The Continue Reading

Surging railroad tank-car orders at companies owned by billionaires Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn are defying an oil price drop that threatens to slow the U.S. drilling boom. Even with crude falling to a post-2011 low, manufacturers including Buffett’s Union Tank Car and Icahn’s American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARII) can’t meet demand. The order backlog reached an all-time high last quarter after bookings for 42,900 freight and tank cars, the most in 27 years of data compiled by Bloomberg. Producers such as Greenbrier Cos. (GBX) and Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN) are expanding as buyers seek more tank cars to move surging oil shipments and get ahead of a U.S. regulatory decision that may take thousands of units already in use off the tracks. The order buildup will ensure a good 2015 no matter where oil goes, said Michael Baudendistel, a Stifel Financial Corp. analyst. “Deliveries will be sustainable for […]

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Seattle and Tacoma are being stymied in their push to regain market share from Canada as railcars destined for the harbors sit idle on tracks across the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Even as the ports, on Washington’s Puget Sound, agreed to consolidate some operations after a century of competition, 40-fold growth in shipments of crude from the Bakken oil fields is straining the region’s main railroad company, BNSF Railway Co., causing delays that have helped shift traffic to less congested harbors in Canada. In September, as many as 150 grain cars piled up in nearby rail yards, said Dale Frazier, manager of Seattle Bulk Shipping Inc. “We were turning away business,” Frazier said by phone on Oct. 28. His company transfers grains, peas and lentils from hopper railcars into containers for export. His customers racked up $170,000 in extra storage bills in September, up from $30,000 in July, he said. […]

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BNSF Railway Co. (BRK/A) plans to apply a $1,000 surcharge for each older tank car that hauls oil, as the railroad owned by Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. encourages shippers to scrap the puncture-prone cars. The charge, which will take effect Jan. 1, will add about $1.50 a barrel to the cost of shipping oil across the country. It’s the first one announced by a major U.S. railroad for older cars known as DOT-111s, and won’t apply to cars called CPC-1232s that are built to higher standards adopted in October 2011, according to a BNSF notice. The Obama administration in July proposed phasing out thousands of the older tank cars within two years and lowering speed limits as part of new rules to reduce the risk of hauling crude by rail. The plan followed a series of fiery accidents, including the derailment and explosion of a crude train […]

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Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., calls for quick action on rules governing oil transit by rail. UPI/Kevin Dietsch BISMARCK, N.D., Oct. 7 (UPI) — The Department of Transportation needs to finalize best practices to ensure the safe transit of crude oil by rail, Sen. John Hoeven said from Bismarck. Hoeven, R-N.D., was on hand for the launch of a rail safety session , hosted by rail companies GATX Corp. and BNSF Railway. Since December, Hoeven said he’s been meeting with Department of Transportation and Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration officials to discuss rail transit. "We continue to push DOT to finalize effective and practical rules for tanker car construction so tank car owners like GATX have the certainty they need to upgrade their fleets, which is a vital part of the effort to make rail transport safer," he said during the Monday launch of the session. The PHMSA issued a […]

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API says federal proposals on oil train safety could cost consumers billions of dollars. UPI/Kevin Dietsch WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) — The American Petroleum Institute said federal proposals for safer transit of oil by rail are not feasible, though its program can provide a reasonable solution. API said proposals outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation for safer oil transit could stifle North American crude oil production . "We have instead proposed an aggressive yet achievable program for retrofitting the crude oil fleet to get stronger cars onto the tracks as fast as possible while limiting the most adverse economic consequences for consumers," API President Jack Gerard said in a Tuesday statement. API said it was proposing a railcar with walls about 1/16 of an inch less than the federal guidelines for rail cars carrying crude oil. The Department of Transportation in July called for the elimination of older […]

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