(Newswire.net — February 21, 2015) — With 400 percent increase in crude oil transportation, US is in desperate need of a new more resiliant oil-carrying train cars that will prevent oil ignite and explode in case of an accident.
Train towing 100 oil tankers, derailed on Monday setting 19 oil-cars on fire in chained reaction. Unfortunately, we are asking questions of the safety of inflammable materials transportation after accident has happen. The answer is the US immediately needs new generation, puncture-safe oil-carrying train cars.
In 2009, the DOT-111 tankers had been flagged by US National Transportation Safety Board as inadequate to carry ethanol and crude oil. The main reason was tin hull that could be easily punctured in case of the crash.
Four years later, similar accident happened in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, when oil tankers crush ignited the oil, carried in DOT-111 train containers.
Because NTSB’s recommendations are not legally binding, thousands DOT-111s still transporting crude oil across American and Canadian rails every year. CSX Corporation, the railway company that owns tankers that derailed in Monday in West Virginia and explode, rushed to explain the cars were not DOT-111s, but CPC-1232s.
Experts say, however, that a CPC-1232 tanker is in fact just a reinforced, alleged tougher version of the DOT-111, redesigned after the NTSB’s 2009 recommendation. In fact, experts say, the biggest difference between the DOT-111 and the CPC-1232 is that the puncture-prone ends of the cylindrical tankers are more heavily protected. Unfortunately, the West Virginia accident shows, reinforcing ends of the DOT-111s cylinder and calling it ‘safe’ for crude oil transport, simply is not enough.
West Virginia crush showed oil-carrying train tankers should be tougher from all sides, not only at the ends. According to US regulators, minimum proposed thickness 9/16 inches. Proposed thickness would significantly reduce the likelihood of puncture during a derailment, US regulators say.
The CPC-1232 overall thickness, however, is 7/16 inches, same as the DOT-111, because, it is basically the same car, and they both simply aren’t thick enough overall.
Even though derailments are rare, the fact US increased crude oil transportation 400 percent, imply the transportation companies need more resilient train cars, now more than ever.