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[CNJRoss]

NTSB news release:

 

NTSB Issues Urgent Recommendations Calling For Improved Rail Tank Cars to Carry Flammable Liquids Such as Crude Oil and Ethanol

 

April 6, 2015

 

WASHINGTON--The National Transportation Safety Board today issued four urgent recommendations calling for more robust and fire-resistant rail cars to be produced to safely carry flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol.

In its recommendations, the Board calls for an aggressive schedule of replacing or retrofitting the current rail car fleet with better thermal protection against heat from fires, such as through a ceramic thermal blanket, and increasing the capacity of pressure relief devices.

“We can’t wait a decade for safer rail cars,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “Crude oil rail traffic is increasing exponentially. That is why this issue is on our Most Wanted List of Safety Improvements. The industry needs to make this issue a priority and expedite the safety enhancements, otherwise, we continue to put our communities at risk.”

The Board said the current fleet of DOT-111 tank cars rupture too quickly when exposed to a pool fire caused by a derailment or other accident with resulting spillage and ignition. And based on a series of accidents the Board has investigated in recent months, performance of the industry’s enhanced rail car, the CPC-1232, is not satisfactory under these conditions.

“The NTSB concludes that the thermal performance and pressure relief capacity of bare steel tank cars that conform to current federal and industry requirements is insufficient to prevent tank failures from pool fire thermal exposure and the resulting overpressurization,” said the letter that included the recommendations from the Board to Acting Administrator Timothy P. Butters of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The Board also called for swiftness in changing the fleet and called for intermediate deadlines and transparent reporting to ensure the tank car fleet is being upgraded as quickly as possible.

To view the recommendation, click on the following link:
http://www.ntsb.gov/...-15-014-017.pdf

 

[CNJRoss]

NTSB news advisory:

 

NTSB Chairman to Hold Press Availability on Rail Tank Car Issues at Texas Rail Facility

 

April 9, 2015

 

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart will hold a press availability following a tour of the Greenbrier Railcar Services Facility in Hockley, Texas, next Thursday. He will speak about the urgent recommendations the Board has issued to make rail cars carrying flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol safer.

What: Railcar maker Greenbrier will give a tour of their rail car facility and then the NTSB will offer a media availability with NTSB Chairman Hart.

Where: Greenbrier Railcar Services Facility, 17000 Premium Drive, Hockley, Texas, 77447

When: Thursday, April 16 at 10:30 a.m. CT

Who: NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart

[CNJRoss]

McClatchy News Service, 4/6:
 

NTSB: Equip oil trains with fire protection within 5 years

 

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday called for the nation’s fleet of railroad tank cars hauling crude oil and ethanol to be equipped with fire protection within five years in an effort to eliminate the large explosions associated with recent accidents.

 

The NTSB cited the performance of tank cars in four recent oil train derailments, two in the U.S. and two in Canada, where fire exposure weakened the bare steel tanks and increased the pressure inside the cars beyond what they were designed to sustain.

 

The agency called on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to require tank cars carrying oil and ethanol to be equipped with a ceramic blanket and high-capacity pressure-relief devices.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Occupational Safety and Health, 4/13:

 

NTSB Chairman Visiting Texas Rail Facility

Christopher Hart will use the April 16 visit to stress the safety board's urgent recommendations that flammable liquid rail cars be strengthened.

• Apr 13, 2015

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart will visit the Greenbrier Railcar Services facility in Hockley, Texas, on April 16, using the appearance to discuss the safety board's urgent recommendations issued on April 6 that rail cars carrying flammable liquids be retrofitted to be tougher and more fire resistant.

 

The board issued four recommendations that call for an aggressive schedule of replacing or retrofitting the existing rail car fleet with better thermal protection against heat from fires, perhaps through "a ceramic thermal blanket," and increasing the capacity of pressure relief devices.

 

"We can't wait a decade for safer rail cars," Hart said then. "Crude oil rail traffic is increasing exponentially, that is why this issue is on our Most Wanted List of Safety Improvements. The industry needs to make this issue a priority and expedite the safety enhancements. Otherwise, we continue to put our communities at risk."

 

Continue here.