(Source: Houston Chronicle, December 18, 2018)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three years ago, following a series of catastrophic spills, Congress ordered rail tank cars built heavier and stronger while allowing older cars to be retrofitted to improve their safety. But after a train transporting oil in the retrofitted cars crashed in Iowa this summer and spilled more than 230,000 gallons of crude, railroads have questioned the safety of the retrofitted cars moving on their track. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the nations’ largest railroads, is now charging oil companies and refineries a significant premium to run those refurbished cars on its tracks across the western United States, aimed to push them toward a new and costlier model of tank car known as the DOT117J, which railroads argue is significantly safer.
Full story: Houston Chronicle