Eastern Railroad Discussion > Cities grapple with oil train safety

The Wall Street Journal has an article this morning about the rapid rise in concern by towns along the oil train routes about the possibility of a derailment / fire, maybe in the town center. The article notes that dozens of oil trains move through the centers of major cities including Chicago and St Louis on a daily basis. Although the article notes that "one train a day" moves through Albany to the piers, several more move through the town's outskirts via Selkirk yard and via the Canadian Pacific.

Chicago's aldermen have considered a tax on loaded oil cars moving through their city to finance a rapid response fire group. Although they can't block the oil trains, they can (they say) tax cargo moving through. That may be a stretch, but they'll probably do some grandstanding as they try.

Many cities are unprepared to fight major oil fires, some experts believe. The fire at Lac-Megantic burned for 30 hours as "special foam" was poured on to try and put out the flames. The railroads, oil terminal operators, cities, all have an interest

The article observes that many trains pass through rural areas where the fire fighters, water supply etc may be more limited. I'd add that the potential for water pollution, even without a fire, is high, however.




subscription site, but widely available on the internet

<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303819704579320971969135440?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_6?

Taxing the cargo on a train passing through town. WOW! Every town in America just hit the jackpot!!!!

Lawsuits, hearings, all kinds of things happening nation wide. Not sure where this will go, but it will get uglier before it gets better. Yet Americans are happier that gas is cheaper.

Chicago needs to get behind the plan, and campaign for funds, to build the railroad bypass that is proposed btw Coal City IL and Indiana. There this a phase 2 also proposed that would extend the line to Rochelle,IL and near La Porte, IN. With that line built a vast majority of oil trains could bypass the city.

Posted from iPhone

The article notes that about 280 million barrels of oil was believed to be on US rails in 2013 (final numbers aren't in). If the total is accurate, that about 370,000 to 400,000 oil tank loads annually. About 4,000 unit trains. Since the number includes a rising surge during the year, and drilling output is increasing, the monthly totals are likely increasingly quickly.

In addition to Albany NY, the article mentions that oil passes through other cities by rail. Not mentioned are Newark NJ, Buffalo NY, Toledo OH, Richmond VA, etc. Tacoma WA is mentioned as one of the few places where local fire officials believe they are well trained and able to deal with most oil related situations.

>>Railroad officials don't like to talk about it, but oil trains are rumbling through many large cities because of surging output from North Dakota's Bakken shale. Functioning as pipelines on rails, tanker cars full of oil pass through Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto, St. Louis, Kansas City and Houston, among others.<<


edited for typo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/14 06:34 by Lackawanna484.

howeld Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chicago needs to get behind the plan, and campaign
> for funds, to build the railroad bypass that is
> proposed btw Coal City IL and Indiana. There this
> a phase 2 also proposed that would extend the line
> to Rochelle,IL and near La Porte, IN. With that
> line built a vast majority of oil trains could
> bypass the city.
>
> Posted from iPhone


What makes you think that the railroads would use it if it was built?

If Chicago can get away with this tax and that's a big if. I would look for lots of oil trains to bypass the city on paper.

Posted from iPhone

The State of Georgia has taxed railcar owners for years if your car passes through the state they tax you. There is precedence for this idea. As long as they tax the truckers for all the haz mat loads they handle as well, I'm ok with it, knowing full well that "we the people" will ultimately pay the tax.

farmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If Chicago can get away with this tax and that's a
> big if. I would look for lots of oil trains to
> bypass the city on paper.
>
> Posted from iPhone


How do you bypass a city on paper but not in reality?

PGR94 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The State of Georgia has taxed railcar owners for
> years if your car passes through the state they
> tax you. There is precedence for this idea. As
> long as they tax the truckers for all the haz mat
> loads they handle as well, I'm ok with it, knowing
> full well that "we the people" will ultimately pay
> the tax.

I did not know that and am actually surprised to find out about it.

I always like to refer Cook county as "Crook" county.

Posted from Android

Railroads are very safety conscious after something happens (e.g. "rules written in blood"), but they are not too imaginative in how a new risk might occur. It's only a matter of luck that the industry has not had a major hazardous material accident to kill hundreds or even thousands in a populated area. I can't blame any city for being concerned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/14 07:52 by ts1457.

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PGR94 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The State of Georgia has taxed railcar owners
> for
> > years if your car passes through the state they
> > tax you. There is precedence for this idea.
> As
> > long as they tax the truckers for all the haz
> mat
> > loads they handle as well, I'm ok with it,
> knowing
> > full well that "we the people" will ultimately
> pay
> > the tax.
>
> I did not know that and am actually surprised to
> find out about it.

+1

I'm familiar with user fees like tolls for bridges or highways, but a toll on rail cars entering the state is definitely a new one for me.


Edited to add:

This source appears to exempt operating railroad companies from a tax on cars held by railroad equipment companies. The tax appears to cover companies that make available railroad cars in Georgia, and apply a formula based on their operations within Georgia. Based on a first quick read, it wouldn't appear to cover cars passing through Georgia, but might apply to cars domiciled in Georgia. The coal cars leased by Georgia Power etc might be covered.

http://statutes.laws.com/georgia/title-48/chapter-5/article-11/48-5-519



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/14 07:26 by Lackawanna484.

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> howeld Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Chicago needs to get behind the plan, and
> campaign
> > for funds, to build the railroad bypass that is
> > proposed btw Coal City IL and Indiana. There
> this
> > a phase 2 also proposed that would extend the
> line
> > to Rochelle,IL and near La Porte, IN. With that
> > line built a vast majority of oil trains could
> > bypass the city.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
>
> What makes you think that the railroads would use
> it if it was built?

If Chicago makes enough noise and trouble the railroads might be inclined to to get behind a plan. There really isn't much downside especially if someone else (tax payers) is covering the up front costs of construction.
It would allow faster transit time for not only Oil but any run though train that doesn't need reclassified in Chicago. Several weeks ago i saw an oil load take 12 hours to go from one side of the greater Chicago area to the other. That was on a sunday when there is less commuter train traffic. If the railroad was built it could easily cut that time in half and be consistent every day of the week.

Railroads have little reason to be in the center of towns anymore. Large and small cities could form public private partnerships with the railroads to construct bypasses. Low interest loans from the federal government that the railroads pay back over time.

NSClevelandLine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> farmer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If Chicago can get away with this tax and that's
> a
> > big if. I would look for lots of oil trains to
> > bypass the city on paper.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
>
> How do you bypass a city on paper but not in
> reality?


There would be a lot less oil trains ran on paper than actually went through the city as the railroads would not show every oil train that ran.

farmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NSClevelandLine Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > farmer Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > If Chicago can get away with this tax and
> that's
> > a
> > > big if. I would look for lots of oil trains
> to
> > > bypass the city on paper.
> > >
> > > Posted from iPhone
> >
> >
> > How do you bypass a city on paper but not in
> > reality?
>
>
> There would be a lot less oil trains ran on paper
> than actually went through the city as the
> railroads would not show every oil train that ran.

But you still have the folks in Barrington etc video taping each train. I wouldn't want to be in the railroad's shoes if they file a report that ten trains went through, and are shown video that 25 trains went through. Can you envision large fines and some jail time?

How could you keep track of all the oil trains in Chicago?

Posted from iPhone

farmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There would be a lot less oil trains ran on paper
> than actually went through the city as the
> railroads would not show every oil train that ran.

Have an incident with a paper train and you really would be throwing open the doors to the corporate treasury, as well as having a few officers being criminally indicted.

farmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How could you keep track of all the oil trains in
> Chicago?
>
> Posted from iPhone


Cameras with OCR reading the car reporting marks, just like the automated license plate readers the cops already use to record every plate going past their "units", or past what they claim is a red light or speed-only camera, or cameras mounted at city limits to track everyone who goes in and out of town...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/your-car-tracked-the-rapid-rise-of-license-plate-readers/

Or they could just stick up some AEI tag readers within range of the tracks. And before you say "oh they have to be X distance from the tracks for a read", you might want to do more research into exactly how far those tags, and any RFID tag, can actually be read from.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072910-black-hat-rfid-passports.html (Your passport's RFID chip can be read from over 200 feet away, despite what the government tells you.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification (how AEI tags work)

Also I hereby copyright, trademark, and patent the plan to install AEI readers and OCR cameras at the Chicago city limits of every railroad track in and out of Chicago, in order to get the $500k of consultancy fees they'll pay out in order to figure out how to track all the oil trains.

Last I knew there is lots of different routings through Chicago. The city would have a very hard time of proving what has ran through.

Posted from iPhone

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Wall Street Journal has an article this
> morning about the rapid rise in concern by towns
> along the oil train routes about the possibility
> of a derailment / fire, maybe in the town center.
> The article notes that dozens of oil trains move
> through the centers of major cities including
> Chicago and St Louis on a daily basis. Although
> the article notes that "one train a day" moves
> through Albany to the piers, several more move
> through the town's outskirts via Selkirk yard and
> via the Canadian Pacific.
>
> Chicago's aldermen have considered a tax on loaded
> oil cars moving through their city to finance a
> rapid response fire group. Although they can't
> block the oil trains, they can (they say) tax
> cargo moving through. That may be a stretch, but
> they'll probably do some grandstanding as they
> try.
>
> Many cities are unprepared to fight major oil
> fires, some experts believe. The fire at
> Lac-Megantic burned for 30 hours as "special foam"
> was poured on to try and put out the flames. The
> railroads, oil terminal operators, cities, all
> have an interest
>
> The article observes that many trains pass through
> rural areas where the fire fighters, water supply
> etc may be more limited. I'd add that the
> potential for water pollution, even without a
> fire, is high, however.

FWIW:

The BNSF mainline (Staples Sub @ 79mph posted) passes through Anoka MN, a Twin Cities north suburb. The line passes right behind the Federal Cartridge Ammunition plant in Anoka. It also passes directly next to the adjoining Ammunition Storage facility. This Plant is directly adjacent to the downtown and residential areas of Anoka, MN.

Google Map “Anoka Main St. & Round Lake Blvd”: the storage area is the field immediately to the NW of the intersection. The plant is the buildings to the far NW of the storage field on both sides of the tracks. And yes, there is a private road that crosses the tracks between the Ammunition Storage field and the main plant area. Small arms powder is shuttled across the tracks to and from the storage area here.

Last week I raised this scenario and some questions to our local paper, the Minneapolis StarTrbune. They interviewed me and are working on an investigative story.

Questions:

1) Are City, County, State, Feds and BNSF aware of this arrangement?
2) Exactly what risks do these agencies and BNSF feel are present in this arrangement: none, low, high, extreme and why?
3) Do these agencies and BNSF now consider this a higher risk area given the recent Bakken oil train incidents?
4) What if any emergency or contingency plans are there in the event of a Lac Magnetic or Casselton-type fire & explosion here?
5) If the authorities consider this area highly risky and have contingency plans will they let the public know?

I’m waiting to hear back from the reporters on any responses.