(Source: Press release from U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), August 7, 2013)
KINGSTON, N.Y. — Today, standing near the CSX line through Kingston, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to require freight rail carriers to create a plan to retrofit or phase-out DOT-111 tank cars, which have proven to be flawed, out-of-date, and a factor in hazardous material spills during derailments. The recent freight rail derailment in the Canadian city of Lac–Megantic, Quebec, as well as the increased shipments of crude oil along New York railways through Ulster County, leads Schumer to urge a corresponding increase in safety measures for New York freight rail, which must be implemented through the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulatory process. Schumer also noted that CSX Transportation is spending $26 million over the next two to three years to add 18 miles of second track along the Hudson River line between Albany and northern New Jersey, in order to handle the growth expected in rail shipments, including crude oil.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has cited the design of the DOT-111 model tank car as a major factor in the 2009 Cherry Valley, Illinois freight rail accident and hazardous materials release, and has recommended either a redesign or replacement of DOT-111 model cars. Currently, the CSX lines through Kingston have about 100 to 200 DOT-111 cars carrying crude oil each day, and Schumer therefore called on the federal DOT to impose requirements on freight rail carriers to phase-out these cars and avoid potential explosions, environmental spills or other dangerous occurrences in Capital Region communities along the rail line in a federal rulemaking expected later this year.
“The recent crash in Lac-Megantic and the increased number of trains carrying oil and other hazardous material down the CSX line in the Hudson Valley are a cause for concern, and I am urging the federal Department of Transportation to start phasing out older tank cars, particularly because they are thought to increase the damage that ensues after a derailment. The DOT-111 tank car has proven particularly prone to spills, tears and fires in the event of a derailment, and it’s simply unacceptable for New York’s communities along the rail lines to face that risk when we know thicker, tougher cars could keep us safer,” said Schumer. “This is not to demonize freight rail or the significant economic activity the increased shipments mean for Ulster County and New York rail, but we have to protect that investment by limiting the risk for major damage in the event of a derailment. Simply put, the increased traffic of rail cars carrying crude oil through Ulster County warrants increased safety measures—and that begins with putting the safest, most up-to-date tank cars on the tracks from Buffalo to Albany to Kingston and beyond.”
Schumer was joined by Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and City of Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo. Standing in front of the CSX line in Kingston, Schumer highlighted an NTSB report, which found that the specifications of the DOT-111 tank cars were a factor in the hazardous materials release in a 2009 crash in Cherry Valley. The train in Cherry Valley was carrying 2 million gallons of ethanol when it derailed. Out of the 15 cars that piled up in the accident, the structure of 13 failed and sparked a massive fire. In a 2006 ethanol train derailment and fire in New Brighton, Pa., 20 of 23 derailed cars released ethanol. The cars that derailed in Lac-Megantic were DOT-111 cars.
In the report following the 2009 crash, the NTSB released a series of recommendations, including to the Pipeline and Hazmat Safety Administration to require all service tank cars carrying fuel ethanol and crude oil to have protections and features that far exceed the DOT-111 design requirements. The NTSB report concluded that had the DOT-111 cars been thicker and tougher, the spill and resulting fire would not have been as damaging, and the only way to avoid such problems in the future would be to retrofit or phase-out the older tanks cars. However, Schumer noted that the NTSB’s warnings have fallen on deaf ears, and many catastrophic rail derailments have occurred since involving these cars.
Therefore, Schumer is urging the federal Dept. of Transportation to issue a requirement during the regulatory process later this year to either retrofit or phase out the DOT-111 cars entirely. DOT-111 cars are not pressurized, unlike pressurized DOT-105 or DOT-112 which have thicker shells and heads and are much less prone to breaching during a derailment. The NTSB found that the heads and shells of DOT-111 cars can almost always be expected to breach in derailments that involve pile-ups or multiple car-to-cart accidents. The FRA and PHMSA would carry out the new plan, and Schumer also wrote the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s trade association, to urge their cooperation in retrofitting or phasing-out the DOT-111. What’s more, in a personal meeting with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Schumer pressed him on including a phase-out or retrofit plan in the expected rulemaking process this year.
This year, there will be more trains carrying crude across North America than ever before: nearly 1,400 carloads a day. In 2009, there were just 31 carloads a day. Ulster County, and Kingston specifically, sees between 100 to 200 DOT-111 cars carrying crude oil a day, according to industry experts. Schumer highlighted that CSX Transportation is spending $26 million over the next two to three years to add 18 miles of second track along the Hudson River line between Albany and northern New Jersey, in order to handle the growth expected in rail shipments, including crude oil. The CSX line, which moves freight rail carrying crude oil from extractors in the Midwest to refineries on the East Coast, pass through cities and towns like Dunkirk, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Selkirk, and through Greene, Ulster, Rockland and Orange Counties.
Schumer explained that the increased movement of crude along the CSX lines in the Hudson Valley was of benefit to the regional, and state economy, but that the risk of a catastrophe like Lac-Megantic must be minimized. The NTSB report and a history of evidence linking the DOT-111 tanks cars to structural failure during derailments led Schumer to push for the new DOT requirement, which would make freight rail safer throughout New York and the country.
A copy of Senator Schumer’s letter to the FRA and PHSMA appears at the link above.