DOT ramps up efforts to improve oil train safety

The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday released a regulatory package to enhance the safety crude oil and ethanol shipped by rail.    The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday released a package of regulations to enhance the safety crude oil and ethanol shipped by rail. 
    DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration has recommended that only the “highest skilled” inspectors conduct brake and mechanical inspections of trains transporting large quantities of flammable liquids, and that the industry “decrease the threshold for wayside detectors that measure wheel impacts, to ensure the wheel integrity of tank cars in those trains.”
   The department also wants to reduce the “information gap” between the oil industry and railroads and first responders to rail accidents involving oil cars. 
   The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is issuing a safety advisory reminding carriers and shippers of the specific types of information that they must make immediately available to emergency responders. This information includes:

• Basic description and technical name of the hazardous material.
• Risks of fire or explosion.
• Immediate precautions to be taken at accident.
• Immediate methods for handling fires.
• Initial methods for handling spills or leaks.
• Preliminary first aid measures.
• 24-hour telephone number for immediate access to product information.

   DOT has also called for an emergency order to require trains transporting large amounts of Class 3 flammable liquid through certain highly populated areas adhere to a maximum authorized operating speed of 40 mph. 
   “These are important, common-sense steps that will protect railroad employees and residents of communities along rail lines. Taking the opportunity to review safety steps and to refresh information before moving forward is a standard safety practice in many industries and we expect the shipping and carrier industries to do the same,” said acting Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg in a statement.