Canada Eyes Impact of Long Oil Trains on Railway Track Integrity
The Canadian transportation department is studying the impact of long oil trains on the integrity of railway tracks, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said on Friday. Canadian National Railway Co suffered a string of derailments in February and March, including three along one section of its main route through northern Ontario, and Raitt told reporters research is one response. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Canadian Regulator Seeks CN Rail Safety Plan After Derailments
Regulator Transport Canada has issued a notice to Canadian National Railway Co requesting a plan to ensure safety along the Ruel subdivision, where three trains derailed in fewer than 30 days in February and March, the railway said on Wednesday. The notice, given on March 12 but not previously reported, was given under the Railway Safety Act. CN Rail spokesman Mark Hallman said the company has already advised Transport Canada of actions taken to improve safety in the area, including increased track inspections and a speed restriction.
Ontario Oil-Train Wrecks Ignite Safety Debate
Two recent oil-train derailments in Canada have opened a new front on the debate over safety, highlighting how even shipments of Alberta's oil sands crude can contain components just as volatile as North Dakota's Bakken. Although Canada is best known for producing viscous bitumen that is not prone to ignite on its own, it is often blended with as much as one-third super-light oil - known as condensate - before it is shipped in rail cars, injecting the same kind of volatile gases that can explode in derailments, industry experts say.
Some Oil Product Spills in Manitoba Derailment
Canadian National Railway Co said Thursday 13 train cars carrying refinery cracking stock, a petroleum product, derailed Wednesday night in rural Manitoba, and one car spilled some of the product onto the ground. The derailment was CN Rail's third in a week. On Saturday, an oil train derailed and burned in northern Ontario while a train hauling empty tank cars that had recently held hazardous liquids derailed last Thursday, also in Ontario. There were no injuries and no threat to the public from Wednesday night's derailment, CN spokesman Brent Kossey said in an email.
Fire Crews Still Battling Illinois Oil Train Blaze
Firefighters today were still working to extinguish several blazes that erupted when a BNSF Railway train loaded with crude oil derailed two days ago in a rural area south of Galena, Illinois, a local official said. The incident marked the latest in a series of derailments in North America involving trains hauling crude oil, heightening focus on rail safety. Nobody was injured in the fiery Thursday wreck, in which 21 cars of a 105-car BNSF train that originated in North Dakota derailed about 3 miles outside Galena, a town of just over 3,000 near the border with Wisconsin.
Train Carrying Crude Oil Derailed in Northern Ontario
A Canadian National Railway Co train carrying crude oil has derailed near the Northern Ontario community of Gogama, with crews reporting a fire but no injuries, the company said on Saturday. CN said the derailment along its main line, which occurred just before 3 a.m. ET/0800 GMT on Saturday, is affecting rail traffic running between Toronto and Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Derailment Blocks CN Rail Main Line in Northern Ontario
A derailment has blocked Canadian National Railway Co's main line in northern Ontario, the railway said in a service bulletin on Thursday. In a separate statement CN said early indications were that most of the cars that may be involved were residue cars, tank cars that recently carried flammable liquids. There were no injuries, and no indication of any fire. CN said traffic running both directions along the route, which links Toronto and Winnipeg, Manitoba, could be delayed by 24 hours or more. Several crews, including CN's dangerous goods department, are responding to the area, near Minnipuka, Ontario.
Derailed CSX Train Hauled Newer-Model Tank Cars
A CSX Corp oil train that derailed and erupted in flames in West Virginia on Monday was hauling newer model tank cars, not the older versions widely criticized for being prone to puncture, the firm said. All of the oil tank cars on the 109-car train were CPC 1232 models, CSX said late Monday. The train, which was carrying North Dakota crude to an oil depot in Yorktown, Virginia, derailed in a small town 33 miles (54 km) southeast of Charleston. The CPC 1232 is the newer, supposedly tougher version of the DOT-111 cars that were manufactured up until 2011.
CSX Train Hauling North Dakota Crude Derails
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, said Robert Jelacic of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 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.
