NTSB Issues Safety Recommendations To PHMSA On Crude By Rail Issues

On Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a 10-page Safety Recommendation to the Acting Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.  The NTSB derived the recommendations from its investigations of the recent derailments of crude-carrying trains in West Virginia, Illinois, and Ontario.  The letter, which can be accessed here, requests the following four specific recommendations:

1. Require that all new and existing tank cars used to transport all Class 3 flammable liquids be equipped with thermal protection systems that meet or exceed the thermal performance standards outlined in 49 CFR 179.18(a) and are appropriately qualified for the tank car configuration and the commodity transported.

2. In conjunction with thermal protection systems called for in #1, require that all new and existing tank cars used to transport all Class 3 flammable liquids be equipped with appropriately sized pressure relief devices that allow the release of pressure under fire conditions to ensure thermal performance that meets or exceeds the requirements of 49 CFR 179.18(a), and that minimizes the likelihood of energetic thermal ruptures.

3. Require an aggressive, intermediate progress milestone schedule, such as a 20% yearly completion metric over a 5-year implementation period, for the replacement or retrofitting of legacy DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars to appropriate tank car performance standards, that includes equipping these tank cars with jackets, thermal protection, and appropriately sized pressure relief devices.

4. Establish a publicly available reporting mechanism that reports at least annually, progress on retrofitting and replacing tank cars subject to thermal protection system performance standards as recommended in safety recommendation #1 above.