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CSX oil train derailment

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Posted by dehusman on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 3:16 PM

The trains comply with Federal hazardous material placement rules.  Tank car loads of flammable liquids have to be the 6th car from the engines, train length permitting, but no closer than the second car for the engine.  Since a unit train of hazmat has no cover naturally, all the cars are hazardous loads, train length does not permit the hazmat to be the 6th car from the engine.  Therefore the railroad must add at least one car (not part of the shipment) as cover.

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Posted by ROBERT WILLISON on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 3:13 PM

Its probably to early for  any one to know how the accident occurred. Don't be so confident Broadway, the industry is just one major incident away from disaster. It won't be the tree huggers shutting things diwn but the silent majority wading in. Let's hope things stay safe out thier.but then again hope is not a substitute for a plan.

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:58 PM
 
As I understand it, the new standards for stronger tank cars have been decided on, so I expect production to begin soon if it has not begun already.  What has never been clear to me, however, is the actual performance of the stronger tank cars.  Will they be strong enough?  What would have happened in yesterday’s derailment if the tank cars were all built to the new standard of strength? 
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Posted by BroadwayLion on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:47 PM

ROBERT WILLISON
Isn't pretty common knowledge that most tank cars are not built to new safety regulations that will take a effect . these regulations require new cars to be strengthen and have additional safety applicances on them to reduce the chance of explosion . the olders cars have to be modified or phased out. Hence the huge back log of tank car orders.

There are problems with odering new cars. BNSF, on its own hook, ordered 5000 new oil cars with the latest and greatest safety features. The risk that they took, is that the new cars have not been approved yet. Well, how can they be, if they were not even built yet. If everybody is going to wait until the FRA approves new cars we will sitll be waiting in the year 2030.

BNSF bit the bullet and ordered something. LION wrote a leter to GATX and suggested something. So it seems likely that something will happen, but what the left and or the Federal Regime thinks of it is another matter.

In the mean time, the oil has to move, and will move. And the tree huggers can crawl into a hole, and pull sand over their heads and make belive that they have the exclusive answers.

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Posted by BroadwayLion on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:39 PM

Euclid
There are plenty of people in this country who would prefer $4 per gallon gasoline, or even higher because they want the country to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

 

Correct. We call those people Neanderthals.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:39 PM

Euclid
Firelock76
The plain fact of the matter is the oil has to be moved and it's going to be moved, one way or another. 

No-one with any sense of responsibility wants gasolene at $4 or more a gallon.

Rail safety issues should be and have to be addressed, but for now no-one's going to stop those oil trains.

You may be right, but nothing would surprise me these days.  The country needs oil, but it does not have to be Bakken oil.  There are plenty of people in this country who would prefer $4 per gallon gasoline, or even higher because they want the country to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

North Dakota is in the process of mandating that the Bakken Crude be treated to reduce its explosive volatility for transportation.

http://www.startribune.com/local/285301951.html

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Posted by BigJim on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:22 PM

I have a question that I don't think I have ever seen brought up.

Why do these trains not have five buffer cars next to the engines? Seeing how volatile this stuff is, it may not make a lot of difference, but, it sure looks warranted to me. I can't find my HazMat book to look up what they have classed this stuff as.

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 2:07 PM

Firelock76
The plain fact of the matter is the oil has to be moved and it's going to be moved, one way or another. 

No-one with any sense of responsibility wants gasolene at $4 or more a gallon.

Rail safety issues should be and have to be addressed, but for now no-one's going to stop those oil trains.

 

You may be right, but nothing would surprise me these days.  The country needs oil, but it does not have to be Bakken oil.  There are plenty of people in this country who would prefer $4 per gallon gasoline, or even higher because they want the country to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. 

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:38 PM

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by chicagorails on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:35 PM

more proof that pipes are better than rails

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Posted by Norm48327 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:32 PM

schlimm

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

As though you are a more credible source with no agenda?  I notice you do not list FAUX 'News' as not partisan and biased, so your own far rightist bias is pretty clear.

 

Do I detect a left wing pot calling the kettle black? Zip it!

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Posted by ROBERT WILLISON on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:09 PM

Isn't pretty common knowledge that most tank cars are not built  to new safety regulations that will take a effect . these regulations require new cars to  be strengthen and have additional safety applicances on them to reduce the chance of explosion . the olders cars have to be  modified or phased out. Hence the huge back log of  tank car orders.  

The issue has nothing to do with the right or left even though many prefer to frame it that way. I live 3 miles from the CSX ( former NYC water level route) both my tree hugger and non tree hugger friends agree  that these cars need to  be made as safe as possible so we don't wake up to a holocaust one spring morning. It was said that 20 oil trains roll through here on a daily basis.

Most people realize that thier are risks involved  in every thing we do. this doesn't mean we reduce safety regulations to reduce the non tree huggers rants.  Nor ramp them up to make it impossible to do business. A balence has to be found. I certainly hope  the many tanker trucks that roll thur here are built to high level of satety standards as well.

Train derailments always seem more dramatic then truck collision most likely due to the huge volume a tank train holds compared to a single trailer. These kinds of wrecks will bring unwanted media exposure to the companies involved. Its a cost of doing business and companies have to live by actions they take both pre and post accident. CSX  seems to being doing a good with it.

I was living in south Florida when the south bound silver star hit a gasoline tanker. Huge explosion with multiple deaths. The trucker was ultimately found at fault but does nothing to help his and the other families of the victims of the accident.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:44 AM

Now don't be so hard on Brother Lion, Schlimm.  I once knew an Olds dealer who say he didn't believe ANYTHING unless it was on GM stationary!

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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:22 AM

BroadwayLion

 

 
seppburgh2

Evening news (ABC) seem to blame the tank cars not being strong enough.  Don't believe content was mentioned.  File footage was bad.  

 

 

 

Believe NOTHING on television (espechaill ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN) Thoes are partisians with an agenda not reporters with a story. They do not bother to understand the facts, and the tanks cars are on their radar. They blatently strive to pander to a certain agenda and will bend any number, any situation to meet that goal.

Brian Williams on Steroids.

ROAR

 

As though you are a more credible source with no agenda?  I notice you do not list FAUX 'News' as not partisan and biased, so your own far rightist bias is pretty clear.

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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:21 AM

trackrat888

No the Enviromentals want us to sit in the cold dark and go back to the caveman days and freeze our butts off. They dont want oil or coal (CO2) They dont want wind(Kills Birds) Dont want solar(Dont want big wind farms) Dont want Hydroeletric (Kills Fish) Dont want nuke(Radiation) Dont want prisonor power riding bikes to generate electicity(Human Explotation Prisons for profit) They would rather have a planet with no people on it and have said it many times.

 

 

Utter nonsense and lies.   Or are you some conspracy nut off his meds?

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Posted by BroadwayLion on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 10:04 AM

RayG8

I don't want to sound like a consiracy theorist but has it occured to anyone else that there seems to be a lot of derailments involving oil trains. Is anyone aware of any statistics regarding derailments and a comparision to oil trains vs everything else. Aside from the tragedy in Quebec has anyone looked at all the other oil derailments to see if there is a common thread in safety practices or maintenance etc?

 

 

No, there anve NOT been a lot of derailments of oil trains, but there are a number of derailments of all kinds. The others do not get reported at all, so the only ones that Brian Williams, et. al. ever here of are the ones carring oil.

Yes, Bakken oil is a sweet light crude with a much higer BTU and with more power to them, but then that is what people are buying when they buy oil: POWER.

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Posted by BroadwayLion on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 9:59 AM

seppburgh2

Evening news (ABC) seem to blame the tank cars not being strong enough.  Don't believe content was mentioned.  File footage was bad.  

 

Believe NOTHING on television (espechaill ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN) Thoes are partisians with an agenda not reporters with a story. They do not bother to understand the facts, and the tanks cars are on their radar. They blatently strive to pander to a certain agenda and will bend any number, any situation to meet that goal.

Brian Williams on Steroids.

ROAR

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Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 8:07 AM

The plain fact of the matter is the oil has to be moved and it's going to be moved, one way or another.  The Republicans know it, and the top Democrats know it, even if they won't come out and say so for fear of alienating their evironmentalist voting base.  This is a national interest issue, and all responsible political leaders know party ideology has to take a back seat when a serious national interest issue comes to the fore.

No-one with any sense of responsibility wants gasolene at $4 or more a gallon. Money going down the gas tank is money people can't spend on other things.  No one likes oil imports, especially from unstable parts of the world.  Everyone wants as much energy independence as possible, 100% if it's do-able. 

Rail safety issues should be and have to be addressed, but for now no-one's going to stop those oil trains.

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Posted by RayG8 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 7:12 AM

I don't want to sound like a consiracy theorist but has it occured to anyone else that there seems to be a lot of derailments involving oil trains. Is anyone aware of any statistics regarding derailments and a comparision to oil trains vs everything else. Aside from the tragedy in Quebec has anyone looked at all the other oil derailments to see if there is a common thread in safety practices or maintenance etc?

 

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 7:06 AM
The fireball has become the symbol for the opposition to oil-by-rail.  This wreck has produced some dandy fireballs that will serve the opposition well.  The fact that nobody got killed is a plus, but the overriding issue is that the images will promote the idea that the public is playing Russian roulette with oil trains.  The images show the massive destructive power, and nobody knows where the next one will strike. 
Here is the image problem for the industry:
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Posted by trackrat888 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 1:51 AM

No the Enviromentals want us to sit in the cold dark and go back to the caveman days and freeze our butts off. They dont want oil or coal (CO2) They dont want wind(Kills Birds) Dont want solar(Dont want big wind farms) Dont want Hydroeletric (Kills Fish) Dont want nuke(Radiation) Dont want prisonor power riding bikes to generate electicity(Human Explotation Prisons for profit) They would rather have a planet with no people on it and have said it many times.

 

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Posted by Diesel Power on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 1:31 AM

Just saw this on the news. Definitely not good as it gives the oil train detractors more ammunition.  Here in Clark County Washington, Tesoro is wanting to build a new facility in the Port of Vancouver and many don't want the facility and the extra trains. It's been a hot topic for sure. Even with the extra jobs that come with the new facility,  there are many fighting the proposal.  Heck there are those that don't even want the coil trains running as there has been increased traffic from those as well. It seems people around don't care for trains much. They would rather we truck all the oil across the US increasing traffic and polution. 

Thankfully no one was hurt. 

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Posted by ricktrains4824 on Monday, February 16, 2015 10:44 PM

At least the good news is no fatalities reported..... So not Lac Magantic all over again..... Bad news is, yeah, this is gonna leave a mark on everyone's perceived opinions of rail traffic safety... 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, February 16, 2015 10:19 PM

blue streak 1
Tree any ideas ?

While a BLEVE is always a possibility, the explosions could have also simply been a catastrophic failure due to a combination of mechanical damage, fire damage, and the fire.  Really kind of a fine line.  

If you light a pile of gunpowder, it will pretty much all ignite at once, with spectacular effect, but you won't get the "bang" you get when you confine it (as in a firecracker).

Without having seen the actual vessels fail, I can't really guess.

 

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Posted by ramrod on Monday, February 16, 2015 9:18 PM

dehusman
One example of how the media plays into the mix

And here's another. During the Charleston TV reporter's impassioned diatribe, he repeatedly refers to the incident as a disaster, even a major disaster. Of course he may be unaware of the coal mine explosions that plagued the WV coal fields for years and that killed hundreds of miners. Or the nitroglycerin truck explosions that caused damage to a number of WV towns. West Virginians have a lot of expeience dealing with industrial incidents.

 

He did identify the oil as coming from the Bakken oil fields in ND. He also noted that 12 to 15 oil tank cars had derailed and that 3 had exploded. 

 

Yes, the incident is somewhat scary and dramatic, but it's not a disaster.  

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Posted by trackrat888 on Monday, February 16, 2015 9:01 PM

Oh #%$#^$!

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, February 16, 2015 9:00 PM

The second link needs repeating as much has been added.  The video sound may have a blieve as the roar certainly sound like vapor burning.  Tree any ideas ?

 

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/Train-Derailment-Causes-Fire-near-Montgomery-Evacuation-Underway-292096241.html?device=tablet&c=y

 

 

 

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, February 16, 2015 8:55 PM

One example of how the media plays into the mix.  This one made the forum, but the one 2 days ago on the CN in a remote area got less coverage and wasn't even mentioned on the forum.

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Posted by Gramp on Monday, February 16, 2015 8:47 PM

Man, I think that second link is gonna hurt the rails.  People won't stand for that.Sigh

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Posted by seppburgh2 on Monday, February 16, 2015 8:42 PM

Evening news (ABC) seem to blame the tank cars not being strong enough.  Don't believe content was mentioned.  File footage was bad.  

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