ALREADY under discussion

Canadian transport Minister Lisa Raitt and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx have already held discussions approximately new safety requirements for the DOT-111 motors.

In 2012, the NTSB encouraged that the DOT-111 motors be retrofitted or phased out. Raitt said earlier this month that new standards would be introduced fairly quickly, and North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said Foxx had promised harder requirements “in weeks, not months.”

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple advised Reuters this week the brand new requirements were needed straight away.

remaining month, a 106-automobile BNSF Railway Co. teach wearing crude oil eastward crashed right into a derailed grain train near Dalrymple’s native land of Casselton, North Dakota.

In early November, two dozen cars on a 90-car oil teach derailed in rural Alabama, erupting into flames that took numerous days to fully extinguish.

Canada’s TSB stated on Thursday that investigators had discovered that the older DOT-111 vehicles in the Lac-Megantic crash experienced massive ruptures even at slower speeds, based on their analysis of the motors at the rear of the train that suffered tank shell and head damage.

The U.S. NTSB advocated on Thursday that regulators require expanded direction planning for shipping risky substances to avoid populated and different touchy areas.

It additionally recommended auditing shippers and rail companies to make certain they properly classify unsafe materials and have ok protection plans.

Thirdly, it endorsed U.S. government develop an audit application to make certain rail carriers are able to reply nicely to worst-case state of affairs accidents in which a train spills its entire oil shipment.

The Canadian employer made similar hints for course-planning and protection in addition to for having emergency response plans alongside these routes.

Raitt she stated in a declaration she has instructed her officials to check the guidelines on an urgent foundation.

“we have constantly proven our commitment to safety with the aid of implementing each one of the Transportation protection Board’s hints arising from the investigation at Lac-Megantic,” she stated.

at the U.S. conference of Mayors in Washington, Foxx did not specially comment on the brand new hints, however said there has been no “magic bullet” to enhance the safety of delivery oil by rail.

“We don’t suppose that is a situation where one kind of motion goes to clear up this hassle,” Foxx stated. “We’ve got a prevention attention, we’ve were given a mitigation consciousness, we’ve got an emergency response recognition.”

Later, the U.S. department of Transportation said in a statement that protection was its pinnacle precedence and that it was already acting on the pointers.

“We agree that a comprehensive, all-of-the-above approach is needed to make certain the safe transport of crude oil. DOT has already begun taking moves on those recommendations and other additional steps…” it stated. “We intend to take extra steps in the coming days and weeks.”