Friday, April 17, 2015

Tank Car Defects Known to Cause Explosions- When Will They Be Corrected?


Welders were busy at GBW Railcar Services in Hockley on Thursday during the visit by NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart.     Photo: Craig Hartley, Freelance

Official, executives say oil trains must be safer

NTSB acting chairman visits Hockley to promote new rules

Against a backdrop of gleaming black tank cars and white-hot welding devices, rail car manufacturing and government safety officials called Thursday for an overhaul of safety standards covering trains that carry crude oil.

Growing use of crude-by-rail transportation poses public safety and environmental risks, said Christopher Hart, the acting chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, during a media event at GBW Railcar Services' Hockley facility, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Houston.

"When we're using the same car to carry crude oil as we use to carry corn oil, that's a problem," Hart said as he and other participants stood in front of a newly manufactured tank car and 200 yards from welders fusing reinforcing metal to other rolling stock.

The NTSB, an independent federal agency that investigates accidents and issues safety recommendations, supports safety upgrades to crude-carrying rail cars.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation has pushed release of its final rules on the tank cars back to May

Oil and railroad industry groups, meanwhile, have said that setting an overly ambitious timetable for retrofitting or replacing tank cars could strain the manufacturers and lead to a shortage of cars compliant with the new rules.

At Thursday's event, however, the head of Greenbrier Cos., an Oregon rail car maker that owns half of maintenance company GBW Railcar, said his industry could handle the surge in new work that would follow stricter safety regulations.

"There's adequate capacity to get the job done in three to five years," Greenbrier CEO William Furman said.....    more here


Other News:


Outlet valves underneath four tank cars in a February oil train derailment in West Virginia were sheared off and the 50,000 gallons of crude oil they released ignited in a fire that subsequently caused several nearby rail cars to explode, according to a federal report.


 


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article18733230.html#storylink=cpy

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