The Canadian Press
Fannie Olivier
Ottawa will retire the older DOT-111 rail tanker cars—the ones involved in the deadly Lac-Megantic tragedy—several months earlier than planned, The Canadian Press has learned.
The tank cars no longer will be able to transport crude oil or other dangerous goods on Canadian railways as of Nov. 1.
That’s six months earlier than planned for “non-jacketed” cars—those without a layer of thermal protection—and 16 months earlier than cars with jackets, which were originally scheduled to be phased out by May, 2018.
On July 6, 2013, a runaway freight train pulling 72 crude-oil laden DOT-111s derailed and exploded, killing 47 people and flattening downtown Lac-Megantic.
Three years after the tragedy, Transport minister Marc Garneau says transportation safety is his top priority.
“It’s clear that to transport crude oil, we need something more robust,” Garneau told The Canadian Press.
“That’s why we’re heading to a new standard, which is the TC-117.”
The new class of tank car, which was announced in May, 2015, is described as having a thicker steel hull, thermal protection, a full head shield, protective valve covers, and a bottom outlet valve for safety.
“This type of tank car will be much more able to resist puncture,” Garneau noted.
Garneau scheduled a news conference in Montreal today, where he was expected to announce he will move up the timeline for retiring or retrofitting the older DOT-111s, which have been described as vulnerable to punctures even at low-speed impacts.
These cars, which long have been the workhorse of the North American fleet, won’t disappear from the tracks altogether, but no longer will be allowed to transport dangerous materials such as crude oil.
“The reality is we can’t stop the transport of dangerous goods across the country,” Garneau said.
“But we can certainly take many more precautions, and that’s what our government is doing.”
In the wake of the Lac-Megantic tragedy, a number of measures were announced in order to minimize the risk of accidents.
These included reducing the speed of convoys in urban areas and letting municipalities know what kind of dangerous materials could be passing through their territories.
And Garneau said more action is possible in the future.
“We are currently exploring these measures,” he noted. “I’ll discuss them when the time and place are right,
“It’s certainly something that’s important to me because I want to ensure, to the extent possible, that there are no accidents while transporting dangerous goods.”
The use of rail cars to transport oil has soared in recent years.
Last year, 146,000 shipments of crude oil travelled along the country’s tracks.
And while the rail industry initially balked at the high cost of Ottawa’s plan to replace the cars, Garneau maintains the two sides are working together.
“It’s progress, because we managed to get everyone’s agreement to accelerate this process,” he noted.
Canada also is working with the U.S. since the rail networks are interconnected and much of the oil circulating in Canada enters from the U.S. Midwest.
