Posted on 03/08/2015 1:27:15 PM PDT by thackney
A CN Rail train carrying crude oil derailed early Saturday in northern Ontario, causing numerous tank cars to catch fire and spill into a local river system, officials said.
It was the third CN oil train derailment in northern Ontario in less than a month, and the second in the same area, renewing concerns about the safety of shipping crude oil by train and further suggesting that new safety requirements for tank cars carrying flammable liquids are inadequate. CN said the cars had been retrofitted with protective shields to meet a higher safety standard known as the 1232.
The new standard was enacted in Canada after a fiery derailment of a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic oil train derailment in July 2013 in the center of Lac-Megantic, Quebec , killed 47 people, but oil trains meeting the new standard continue to derail and catch fire throughout North America.
Ontario Provincial Police said no injuries were reported in the derailment that occurred at about 2:45 a.m. about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) southwest of Gogama, Ontario, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Timmins.
(Excerpt) Read more at fuelfix.com ...
What’s that? About 5 total in North America over the last month?
How many pipelines have “derailed” in the same time period.
UPDATE 4-Canadian Nat’l crude train derails in Ontario, on fire, leaking
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/canada-derailment-idUSL1N0W90G420150307
There were no injuries reported from the derailment, CN’s second in the region in just three days and third in less than a month. It was the latest in a series of North American derailments involving trains hauling crude oil, raising concerns about rail safety.
The railway said a bridge over a waterway had been damaged and that five tank cars landed in the water, with some on fire.
“CN emergency responders are acquiring booms to contain crude oil movements in the waterway,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman said in an email, adding that initial indications were that the waterway does not supply drinking water to Gogama.
The Ontario Provincial Police said on Twitter that two highways had been closed near the derailment and posted a photo showing clouds of black smoke.
CN said the crude oil on the train originated in Alberta and was destined for Eastern Canada.
It said the tank cars were the newer Casualty Prevention Circular 1232 model, which are widely regarded as better-protected against damage than older types.
excerpted:
UPDATE 4-Canadian Nat’l crude train derails in Ontario, on fire, leaking
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/canada-derailment-idUSL1N0W90G420150307
There were no injuries reported from the derailment, CN’s second in the region in just three days and third in less than a month. It was the latest in a series of North American derailments involving trains hauling crude oil, raising concerns about rail safety.
The railway said a bridge over a waterway had been damaged and that five tank cars landed in the water, with some on fire.
“CN emergency responders are acquiring booms to contain crude oil movements in the waterway,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman said in an email, adding that initial indications were that the waterway does not supply drinking water to Gogama.
The Ontario Provincial Police said on Twitter that two highways had been closed near the derailment and posted a photo showing clouds of black smoke.
CN said the crude oil on the train originated in Alberta and was destined for Eastern Canada.
It said the tank cars were the newer Casualty Prevention Circular 1232 model, which are widely regarded as better-protected against damage than older types.
excerpted:
Canada
What if we had some other way to transport the oil.... maybe a pipeline?
They need to kill this story right away.....
This will be cited as PROOF that oil pipelines are dangerous. Watch.
CN does not own the tank cars, said Hallman, but he declined to reveal who does, citing contractual confidentiality.
The investigation into the first Gogama derailment is ongoing. In its Feb. 23 progress update, the TSB wrote that the Class 111 tank cars built to the CPC-1232 standard, which had been travelling at the speed of 38 mph (61 km/h) at the time of derailment, “performed similarly to those involved in the Lac-Mégantic accident which occurred at 65 mph (105 km/h).”
The TSB reiterated that it wants tougher standards than CPC-1232 for all Class 111 tank cars.
“The TSB has warned (Transport Canada) that this standard was not sufficient and that more needed to be done to provide an adequate level of protection,” according to the update.
“Preliminary assessment of the CPC-1232-compliant tank cars involved in (the first Gogama derailment) demonstrates the inadequacy of this standard given the tank cars’ similar performance to the legacy Class 111 tanks cars involved in the Lac-Mégantic accident.”
Saturday’s incident is the fourth CN derailment in northern Ontario this year.
Follow the money
There is no rail sw of gogama. Track runs nw to se.
Interesting that these railcars had been retrofitted to the new “safe” standards.
As a sidenote; I have always been intrigued by the phrase “caught fire”.
Either CN trackage needs attention badly or there may be an effort to cause trouble by the environmental types by tampering with the tracks, signals, switches or all of the above.
.
These new safer rail cars seem to be making pipelines obsolete, 0bama can tell us all about it.
Obama is well versed on the consequences of building the pipeline but no one asks him of. the cconsequences of not building it. As with all things there are pluses and minuses that should be weighed.
Another potential issue is the changing weather transition to spring. It plays hell with the ground and everything on it.
Kinda like..."take off".
If only there were some safer way to transport crude oil ...
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