Railway Age, 2/7/20
UPDATED: Transport Canada Slow-Orders Crude Oil Trains
Feb. 6 derailment of a CP crude oil train at Guernsey, Sask. Photo by Philippe Gaudet/ABC News.
Following a second unexplained derailment and rupture-caused explosive fire of a crude oil train in rural Guernsey, Sask., Transport Canada ordered Feb. 6 a 25-mph limit on the speed of oil trains, dropping in metropolitan areas to 20 mph. The Federal Railroad Administration is monitoring Canada’s investigation to determine whether additional regulatory measures should apply once those oil trains cross the border on their way to U.S. refineries. As well, CN has embargoes, for 30 days, permits for certain TIH (toxic inhalation hazard) trains, citing the slow order’s impact on its network.
Transport Canada’s mandatory slow order applies to all trains carrying 20 or more crude oil tank cars and persists for 30 days. The order followed by a few hours the derailment of a Canadian Pacific oil train, less than two months after a similar derailment and explosive fire in the same area. CP, for its part, announced it had already slow-ordered all of its oil trains immediately after the Feb. 6 incident “as a precautionary measure as it gathers facts related to this incident.”
“Until we better understand the facts relating to today’s incident, it is prudent to operate with an abundance of caution,” said CP CEO Keith Creel. . . .
