http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/03/30/bnsf-railroad-promises-to-slow-crude-oil-trains-increase-inspections-after/
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
The linked article seems balanced and objective. From the article one gets the sense there definitely is a problem, but the railroads themselves are not sure what to do about it, especially because what to do about it could affect their bottom line. In cases like that is often when government gets involved and imposes a course of action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
LION saw this article. Him fall off of chair laughing.
Only city in North Dakota above 100,000 population is FARGO, and trains gotta stop and merge there anyway.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
richg1998 http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/03/30/bnsf-railroad-promises-to-slow-crude-oil-trains-increase-inspections-after/
This situation revolving around the shipments of oil ( Crude,etc) seems to be a knee jerk reaction to the situation of a small number ( of the total shipments(?) of derailments..Admittedly, they are high profile, and draw "The Media" like flies to a barnyard. See the linked paragraphs from the previously posted linked article: FTA[snipped]"...Trevino said the railroad had already doubled the frequency of track inspections near waterways; now it will inspect the track 2.5 times more often than regulations require.
BNSF, like the other major freight railroads, uses a system of trackside detectors to identify wheels and axles that are beginning to fail. Trevino said the railroad will begin removing flawed wheels sooner to help prevent derailments..."[snipped]
Some months back (possibly a couple of years(?) TRAINS published an articleabout the Car Repair operations at a Division point yard in New Mexico. It showed how the BNSF crews could change out axle sets on a train witout breaking cars out of the consist. It was a faster and better way to react to wheels that were getting flat spots and solving potential running gear problems; The defects had been identified by the detectors mention in the 'linked article'. That work was mirrored in the results around here in South Central Kansas, as the number of cars with obvious, noisey, flat-spotting was greatly reduced on Eastbound trains Also, I have noticed more, and more, HY-rail vehicle out on the lines ( increased inspections?). Point is, would it not be just as efficient to run an inspection truck infron of the slower moving oil trains?.
The FEC RR, years back, when they were having their period of 'Labor Problems'; used to run Hy-rail vehicles leading all their trains, in either direction on their railroad, as a precautionary effort. I'm not sure what the effects of having an inspection vehicle rolling, leading a slow moving oil train, but it seems that it would be a pro-actively, reasonable course to take? Particluarly, in our current environment when the politcal class is getting more and more reactive to situations they do not completely understand; in an environment, where they seem to want to get 'media face time' more so than a realistic resolution to a situation.
^
Shall we revert to a man walking 10 feet ahead of a oil train waving a Red Flag and calling out about the oil train that is following him?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Hey Lion, they go through Chicago with the Metra commuter trains and that would be a massive catastophe if a wreck occurred here. Buffett does not have enough to cover the damages that could arise if it wiped out downtown Naperville or Hinsdale and involved a commuter train carrying 1500 people. Fortunatly, it seems they are not comming through here during rush hour. Lac Megantic bankrupted a small RR. A wreck here could bankrupt the BNSF. They do a wonderful job maintaining their three track plant but I'm sure they lose sleep over the risk they have with these loads. Hope you can get off the floor and sit back down and tell us how you would solve the delema of a common carrier that is required by law to accept what is given to them but is given a ticking time bomb. That crude is volatile and I have concerns that there will be events with more losses than we have had to date.
'Back in the day' Western Pacific - and possibly others - would run either Hy-Rail trucks or 'speeders' ahead of its trains in the Feather River Canyon when there were heavy rains or other events that could lead to landslides onto the tracks, and/ or washouts underneath, etc.
For the oil trains, they could detect obvious 'static' defects, such as obstacles, washouts, a fully broken rail, or wide gauge that was staying that way, etc.
But they wouldn't work on 'dynamic' defects that become evident only under heavy wheel loads such as a rail that separates, track gage that springs wider, track thatg settles into a weak spot in the subgrade, etc.
- Paul North.
Electroliner 1935 Hope you can get off the floor and sit back down and tell us how you would solve the dilema of a common carrier that is required by law to accept what is given to them but is given a ticking time bomb. That crude is volatile and I have concerns that there will be events with more losses than we have had to date.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Siding Electroliner 1935 I'm not Lion, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night........ If a guy was to think about it, couldn't the railroads slow the oil trains down for safety, calculate how much that adds to the cost and raise the rate to carry the oil?
Electroliner 1935
I'm not Lion, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night........ If a guy was to think about it, couldn't the railroads slow the oil trains down for safety, calculate how much that adds to the cost and raise the rate to carry the oil?
Much too simplistic - the entire network gets slowed to the speed of oil trains, when they are operating. The cost of the network disruption is not calculable.
Plus the 35mph is still above the crash worthiness speeds that tank cars are designed for. That speed is around 18 to 20mph, even for the "new and improved" cars.
Last year, the Cedar Rapids Gazette had a mostly fair article about oil train derailments. They consulted a professor of mechanical engineering from the UofIowa for the story. He said the trains were being operated 2 to 3 times faster than what the cars were designed to operate. That made no sense until I later read the cars were designed to maintain integrity in accidents in the 15 to 18mph speed range. It's not that the cars aren't designed to operate at track speed, but that they are only designed to maintain integrity in accidents at low speeds. I think the article was misleading on that point. Either the professor was injecting some hyperbole into the story, or the reporter was, or maybe the reporter didn't understand (or take the time to) the difference. It made it sound like trains might derail just because of the speed the trains were traveling.
Jeff
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.