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Exactly two months after the latest Warren Buffett-owned BNSF train derailed near the spot where the Galena river meets the Mississippi, resulting in a huge fire and the evacuation of all homes in a one mile radius, moments ago another of Buffett's BNSF oil trains derailed, this time near the town of Heimdal, North Dakota, resulting in the same outcome. According to the Bismark Tribune, the town in Wells County was evacuated Tuesday morning after a train full of oil tanker cars derailed and burned about a mile and half east of here. ... For those concerned that these countless...

A tiny North Dakota town was evacuated Wednesday after a train carrying crude oil derailed and 10 cars burst into flames, local authorities said. It is the latest in a string of explosive oil train derailments that have raised concerns about the large volume of crude moving across America's tracks. No injuries have been reported from the derailment of a BNSF train near Heimdal, North Dakota. The town, which in 2010 had a population of 27, has been evacuated, as have farms near the crash site. "I was in the house at 7:15 a.m. when we thought we heard thunder,"...

Monthly rail receipts of crude oil accounted for more than half (52%) of the crude oil supply to East Coast refineries in February. As U.S. and Canadian production of crude oil has increased, crude supply by rail to East Coast (PADD 1) refineries has grown, displacing waterborne imports of crude oil from countries other than Canada, such as Nigeria. While refinery utilization in Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) 1 in early 2015 has been below typical levels, this still marks the first time in EIA's dataset that crude deliveries by rail have accounted for such a high percentage of...

New safety rule on crude tank cars is coordinated through the US and Canada, likely to increase industry costs. With an emphasis on enhanced tank car construction and braking standards, U.S. and Canadian transportation officials have released a new rule to boost the safety of crude by rail in North America. “Our close collaboration with Canada on new tank car standards is recognition that the trains moving unprecedented amounts of crude by rail are not U.S. or Canadian tank cars – they are part of a North American fleet and a shared safety challenge,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx...

Construction project is believed to be under consideration and is part of proposed extension to link China with Nepal by railChina is considering extending a railway line linking the country to Nepal via a tunnel under Mount Everest, according to Chinese state media. The proposal is the latest in a series of ambitious rail schemes Beijing is reportedly examining. It comes amid scepticism about whether some of the projects will ever get off the ground and at a time of a growing Chinese presence in Nepal, which has caused some concern in rival regional power India. The Qinghai-Tibet railway already...

The growth in oil-train shipments fueled by the U.S. energy boom has stalled in recent months, dampened by safety problems and low crude prices. The number of train cars carrying crude and other petroleum products peaked last fall, according to data from the Association of American Railroads, and began edging down. In March, oil-train traffic was down 7% on a year-over-year basis. Railroads have been a major beneficiary of the U.S. energy boom, as oil companies turned to trains to move crude to refineries from remote oil fields in North Dakota and other areas not served by pipelines. Rail shipments...

Spearheaded by the Senators from Washington_State, legislation just introduced in the United States Senate will finally address the rash of crude oil train wrecks and explosions that have skyrocketed over the last two years in parallel with the steep rise in the amount of crude oil transported by rail. Oil production is at an all-time high in America, great for our economy and energy independence, but bad for the people and places that lie along the shipping routes. Just since February, there have been four fiery derailments of crude oil trains in North America and many more simple spills. More...

At his recent groundbreaking for the state's high-speed train, Gov. Jerry Brown paused while extolling the project to laud the union workers who will build it.. "You've got to put something in the ground," Brown said, riffing on what drives economic growth. "You've got to get these building trades men and women doing stuff. That's what makes America — what makes the world — go 'round." If Brown has his way, the construction workers will soon be doing a lot of "stuff." The governor's final-term agenda is stacked with legacy-cementing projects, including the rail network, a replumbing of California's waterworks...

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority has wrapped up an initial round of public meetings as part of a feasibility study of north-south commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Howell, a project often referred to as WALLY. But after meetings in Brighton and Ann Arbor, and another one Monday night in Howell, questions still remain about how the service would be funded. Michael Benham, strategic planner for the AAATA, acknowledged it's possible that communities along the line could be asked to pay for the service through taxes, as fares alone wouldn't be enough to cover the costs. He said that...

Light rail is controversial because of its price tag -- the recently finished Green Line linking downtown St. Paul with Minneapolis cost $957 million. Supporters, though, say it's justified along dense routes where it can move many people more efficiently than buses can. <<>> Taxpayers shoulder the majority of the cost. In the metro area, fares account for about $100 million in revenue last year -- about 30 percent of the operating cost of transit. Federal grants play a big role in paying for new transitways and vehicles -- 55 percent of capital costs last year. But federal taxpayers covered...

people need to take some personal awareness of what’s around them,” Kevin Reed of the Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department said. “‘How do I get out of the way before the fire department gets here?’” Minnesotans should answer in advance questions such as “what would I take with me?” he added. People living within a half mile of railroad tracks carrying North Dakota oil are in an area officials say is a “danger zone.”

For the first time, EIA is providing monthly data on rail movements of crude oil, which have significantly increased over the past five years. The new data on crude-by-rail (CBR) movements are integrated with EIA's existing monthly petroleum supply statistics, which already include movements by pipeline, tanker, and barge. The new monthly time series of crude oil rail movements includes shipments to and from Canada and dramatically reduces the absolute level of unaccounted for volumes in EIA's monthly balances for each region. EIA is initiating the new series with monthly data from January 2010 through the current reporting month, January...

<p>BNSF has started taking additional safety measures for crude oil shipments because of four recent high-profile derailments in the U.S. and Canada, the railroad said Monday.</p> <p>Under the changes, BNSF is slowing down crude oil trains to 35 mph in cities with more than 100,000 people and increasing track inspections near waterways. The Fort Worth-based railroad also is stepping up efforts to find and repair defective wheels before they can cause derailments.</p>

At least 21 people were hurt, two of them seriously, on Saturday when a Los Angeles commuter train struck a car that was crossing the tracks and derailed into a street near the University of Southern California campus. A silver Hyundai Sonata was left crumpled and unrecognizable following the collision, according to a Reuters witness. The lead train car jumped the tracks, crashing through a metal fence and across a grass-covered median before coming to rest in the middle of Exposition Boulevard. One person on the Metrolink train suffered serious injuries, the Los Angeles Fire Department said, and a person...

Around 25 business owners and supporters of Fresno’s Chinatown gathered Sunday afternoon to share their concerns about the imminent high-speed rail construction along Kern and F streets. Chinatown Revitalization Inc. listed many concerns including that Spanish and Chinese speaking business owners have not been notified of the construction. Verta Gonzalez, who runs Floreria Rubi at 1515 Tulare St., said she had no idea about the coming construction. Gonzalez said business owners who speak English perhaps are able to defend themselves better. “It’s like they think Mexicans don’t matter,” she said of the rail authority. Rail authority spokeswoman Lisa Alley said...

Volunteers at the Galena, Illinois, fire department were hosing down the smoldering wreck of a derailed BNSF oil train on March 5 when a fire suddenly flared beyond their control. "They dropped the hoses and got out" when the flames started rising, said Charles Pedersen, emergency manager for Jo Daviess County, a rural area near the Iowa border which includes Galena. "Ten more minutes and we would have lost them all." No one was hurt in the fire, which burned for days, fed by oil leaking from the ruptured tank cars. But an increase in explosive accidents in North America...

Two Convicted In Canada VIA Rail Terror Plot Case Chiheb Esseghaier, one of two suspects accused of plotting with al-Qaida in Iran to derail a train in Canada, arrives at Buttonville Airport just north of Toronto 23 April 2013 Chiheb Esseghaier said he only wanted to be judged by the Koran Two Canadian men accused of plotting to attack a passenger train going from New York to Toronto have been found guilty on multiple terror charges. Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were arrested in 2013 after a surveillance and undercover operation. Jurors spent 10 days in deliberations before returning guilty...

Two months after fitness expert and reality TV star Greg Plitt was killed by a Metrolink train in California, another personal trainer was struck and killed Tuesday in Georgia by a freight train. Achilles Williams, 30, a popular Atlanta-area personal trainer, was skipping rope near the train tracks filming a YouTube workout video when he was sideswiped by a speeding freight train, a spokesperson at the Fulton County coroner's office confirms to PEOPLE.

Austin,Texas — A North Texas state senator has introduced a bill in the Texas legislature that would effectively prohibit the state or any of its subsidiaries, such as cities and transit authorities, from using money from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for rail mass transportation.

Federal regulators seeking to boost the safety of moving oil by rail should focus on improving the integrity of the nation’s train tracks, not just the tank cars that carry crude, a top refining industry representative says. Charles Drevna, head of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, questioned “how strong a role prevention is playing in the Department of Transportation’s comprehensive strategy” for combating crude-by-rail derailments, in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Any effort to enhance rail safety must begin with addressing track integrity and human factors, which account for 60 percent of derailments,” Drevna said in his...