BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — BNSF Railway Co. said it intends
to buy a fleet of 5,000 strengthened tank cars to haul oil and ethanol
in a move that would set a higher benchmark for safety within an
industry that’s seen multiple major accidents.
The voluntary step
by the Texas-based subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway,
Inc. comes as railroads in the U.S. and Canada are under intense
pressure to improve safety for hazardous materials shipments.
There’s
been a string of recent train accidents involving oil and ethanol,
punctuated by a crude shipment that derailed in Quebec last July and
killed 47 people.
A boom in domestic oil drilling and rising
ethanol production spurred a dramatic increase in shipments of the
materials by rail. Much of it is being hauled by an old fleet of some
78,000 tank cars that are prone to split during accidents.
Thursday’s
announcement marks a potential major step in addressing that problem.
However, it would not mean those older cars would go away, and there’s
already a two-year backlog on new tank car construction.
In
announcing that it will ask manufacturers to submit bids for the new
cars, BNSF indicated it was unwilling to wait for the U.S. Department of
Transportation to finalize pending regulations on improved tank cars.
The
company said it hoped to accelerate the transition to a new generation
of safer tank cars and give manufacturers a head start in designing them
as federal officials consider changes to the current standards.
Typically,
railroads don’t own the tank cars they pull, making BNSF’s proposal
somewhat unusual. But whether it will spur other shipping companies or
railroads to follow suit was uncertain, said Tom Simpson, president of
the Railway Supply Institute, a trade association representing tank car
manufacturers and owners.
"Everyone has the right to go to a tougher standard," Simpson said. "We’ll see how it
plays out."
BNSF
spokeswoman Roxanne Butler said the request for bids on new cars
reflects the company’s "commitment to crude-by-rail growth and improving
the overall safety of crude transportation."
In addition to the
older tank cars that are prone to fail, there are about 14,000 cars
being used that were built according to a more stringent standard
established by the industry in 2011. BNSF’s proposal would go further
still.
Among the added safety features being sought by the company
are ½-inch thick steel shields that would go on either end of the tank
cars to help prevent them from cracking open during accidents. The new
cars also would have pressure-relief valves capable of withstanding an
ethanol-based fire and a tank body made of thicker steel than existing
cars.
Butler said she had no time frame on when the tank cars could be built and put into use.
A
spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads said the group
does not comment on individual railroad business decisions, but urged
federal officials to finalize work on new tank car regulations as soon
as possible. Spokeswoman Holly Arthur said that would "provide certainty
to the marketplace."
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