Tank Car Safety: CP has created two big fires in two months near Guernsey, SK

I've been writing about incidents that "stress" tank cars. But I think this derailment is significant enough to warrant its own post.

(Update: CN has smashed several tank cars near Erno, ON.
Josh Cirillo Sabotage from protesters maybe?
Léo Major Josh Cirillo They think the Montreal derailment was sabotage. Three derailments in 2 days, fishy
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/.../cn-investigating-after...)

the derailment happened Thur.Feb.6 [2020] around 6am, and it was crude oil. I could not find which generation of safety design the tank cars had. This time they were just a quarter mile away from wiping out the town of Guernsey. The 88 residents of the town were evacuated because the smoke was headed towards it with this derailment.

650 CKOM has a video   "A train has derailed near Guernsey, the second time in less than two months that a train has derailed in the area."

650 CKOM
Bob Orsted Each one of these train derailments we’ve had spilled more oil than the pipeline would in its entire life .. you would think if the environmentalists would be pushing for pipelines if they really cared for the environment...
[Lots of comments concerning pipelines vs. trains, wind power vs. oil and drone usage.]

Ron Pienig shared
Steven Doss CP barely invests in their Track Maintenance

650 CKOM
[Evidently Quebec is blocking the pipeline that would make these trains obsolete.]

I read a post about the Minister of Transport limiting the speed limit of "key trains" to 25mph except for 20mph through towns for the next 30 days. A "key train" is defined to be a train that has 20 or more Dangerous Cargo cars. Unfortunately, I did not appreciate the significance of this post when I read it, and I did not save it. The comments on that post addressed the train crew issue that this order will cause. One speculated if layed off crewman would quit their current job and come back to the railroads. Others mentioned that a lot more trains would have to be rescued. I believe that "rescue" means a crew reaches their hour limit before they arrive at the next normal crew change point and the railroad has to drive a fresh crew out to where the train stopped. Note that the three CP crewmen that were killed in a runaway train were involved in a crew change. If the Minister of Transport doesn't do anything about forcing CP to improve the quality of its tracks, he raised the cost of goods in vain. Instead, he should have focused on track inspections. He could start with demanding to see them. If CP can't produce them or if they are of poor quality, give them a big fine and insist that they produce good inspections within a month or whatever timeframe makes sense. It sounds like he should start his focus with this stretch of track.

CBC

William HBaird posted

NEW "SPEED RESTRICTIONS" IMPOSED:

The Canadian Government said on February 6th, it would impose temporary speed limits on all trains hauling dangerous goods after a Canadian Pacific Railway oil train derailed and caught fire.

The train derailed early Thursday morning (Feb 6th), 2020 closing a major highway in both directions. The train had 104 railcars and 31 derailed, and 12 cars were on fire. There were no injuries. The CP Locomotives were CP ES44AC 9362 and CP SD70ACU 7006 on the train leading the train but did not derail, and the crew was safe.

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said that effective at midnight on Friday (0500 GMT Saturday), trains hauling more than 20 cars of dangerous goods would be limited to 25 miles per hour (40 kph) across the country for the next 30 days.

The limit in urban areas will be 20 mph (32 kph), he told reporters. The reductions represent a halving from the normal speed limits. Depending on the results of the probe into Thursday's derailment, the 30-day period could be shortened or lengthened.

www.candianrailwayobservations.com

[There are quite a few comments about the railroads laying off the people that inspect the tracks and freight cars. And the safety of pipelines vs. trains.]

Javid Beykzadeh shared

Kyle Mardon You’re all talking about track, but cars are often the cause for derailments as well. But yes CP is not doing it’s deligence. 24 hours before every oil train there is supposed to be a track inspection. No one is doing them cause they don’t have enough qualified employees who are willing to do OT. Mostly cause they have fired or pissed them all off.

Daniel Grande Kyle Mardon it never used to be 24 hrs, was 4. And even that depended on weather.

Al Snyder 20 MPH in urban areas? Don't they know 20 MPH is right in the middle of the speed that causes harmonic rock??

Reggie Kenner Isn't Canada all welded rail now? Harmonic rocking is usually a problem on jointed rail.

Brydon Martin Al Snyder exactly my thoughts, you are not allowed to put a TSO of 20MPH for that reason. [So now I wonder what TSO is.]

Claude Langlois Al Snyder Well our Transport Minister was an Astronaut so.....

Andrew Beeman Kirk Richard I would have to agree with you on that. On our line with jointed rail and lots of low spots, 13-19 is where you’ll get the cars perfectly in sync with the dips and I swear to god I’ve seen wheels lift off the rail.

Reggie Kenner The SP used to have a rule out of Mojave that if you could not make 22mph up the grade with oil and grain trains, you had to reduce to 10mph.

Andy Gekeler Kirk Richard 12-23

Kyle Johnson Asinine damage control... PR stunt.

Corey Tre How about more requirements for track maintenance.

Steve Lucas I've had my ear to the ground for a long time. This has been brewing for years, maybe decades. It appears that the Government is pissed off at the carriers. The Railway Safety Act of Canada gives the Feds almost blanket authority to severely limit or curtail rail operations. This is a shot across the carriers' bow by the Government. You can cavil at Marc Garneau being an astronaut if you like. Fact is, there are people who advise him up to Deputy Minister level who know exactly what is going on. My guess is that the railways have been given a month to change their ways with respect to DG transportation, or things can get even worse for them. It is not in the interest of any Government to have ANOTHER Lac-Megantic happen on their watch. The last Government may have been voted out partly in 2015 because of Lac-Megantic. And it appears that there is public support for the Government to heavily regulate the carriers. Remember that the NDP, Bloc, and Greens are all likely on side with the Government's actions. If the Conservatives say anything against this, they can be easily reminded of Lac-Megantic happening on their watch, and be accused as being in the pocket of Big Business. DG trains can blow up and obliterate cities; we've seen this proven. This appears somewhat a political move by the Liberals, and one that they can easily mobilise public support for. For working rails, It's going to be a month at least of running 20/25 mph Key Trains on track good for twice that or more. Mind your P's and Q's. For the foamers, I suggest that you learn about rail and Canadian history, and you will understand why this is happening.

Ted Hazelton posted six photos with the comment: "Photos of the Guernsey, Saskatchewan Canada derailment. Dan Foxx photos."
Ted Hazelton This is why I'm not a fan of DPU's on a train. If a derailment happens, they keep pushing more cars into the pile from behind.
Taylor Woolston Ted Hazelton do you know anything?
Tyler Welsford Ted Hazelton they stop pushing as soon as the train goes into emergency.
Trey Holland No they don't. They go into emergency the same time the rest of the train does. Once the communication is lost between the head end and rear engine, the DPU doesn't provide power.
Erik W. Brom If communication was lost, but that would not likely be the case in this situation. They are still well within radio communication distance of each other.
Robert J. Riley The go to idle when the brakes shoot...
Erik W. Brom But, wait a minute: if the emergency application starts in the middle of the train, it will be some time 5-15 sec? Before it reaches either end. In that time, the front power is still pulling and the rear power is still pushing. I assume once it gets to the first end, it will radio the other end to go into emergency.
Robert J. Riley The brakes shoot at the speed of sound. It does not take 15 seconds. Education of how this stuff works is a whole lot better than the he said she said the dude across the road swears he heard it from Ferris Bueller ..
Erik W. Brom Robert J. Riley air brake applications travel at around 500 ft per second. Emergency applications maybe a bit faster.
Erik W. Brom Speed of sound is 1100ft/sec.
Erik W. Brom Here's a reference: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j.... It says 900fps best case for an emergency application, plus several seconds for the brake valve to react.
Andy Gekeler Robert J. Riley 980’/second I believe. Standard reduction should be around 560’
Andy Gekeler Erik W. Brom major difference when you’re coming up to a Red Block. And not Spiking it.
Erik W. Brom Hmm, which would be worse/harder to explain: An emergency application or overrunning the signal?
Erik W. Brom So a better number for my example would be 6 seconds from the middle of a 10,000 foot train to each end. At 50 MPH the train will have travelled over 400 feet (about 8-9 car lengths) before the brakes are fully applied and the DPU has gone to idle.
Erik W. Brom It's too bad that ECP brakes haven't become standard. In that case the brake application would travel at the speed of light. It wouldn't prevent the original derailment, but the whole train would be in emergency within a fraction of a second, which should reduce the severity (fewer cars piling into the derailment). Unfortunately, the cost of equipping every car in North America has prevented it.

Ted Hazelton shared with the comment: "This is why I'm not a fan of DPU's on a train. If there is a derailment, they keep pushing cars onto the pile from behind!"
Isaac Bryson No they don't lmao. If the train is going 40-50mph, the momentum of the cars behind will pile up. Not the DPU. That shuts down as soon as E-brakes are applied or air brake connection is lost.

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safe_image for GlobalNews
1.2M litres of oil spilled in Guernsey, Sask. CP train derailment
"CP has also confirmed the tank cars involved were TC-117J types, which became the industry standard following the phase-out of the DOT-111 cars involved in the deadly rail disaster in Lac-Megantic, Que., in 2013....The TC-117 cars have additional safety features including thicker steel and thermal protection.
A retrofitted version of the TC-117 tank type was involved in crashes and subsequent oil leaks in the December derailment in Saskatchewan, as well as in other recent accidents in St. Lazare, Man., Iowa and Texas. It has a thinner shell than newer models."

Update:

safe_image for Train that derailed near B.C. school was carrying extremely flammable propane: TSBA CN train derailed March 5 east of Prince George. The TSB now says 28 cars went off the tracks, including 7 carrying dangerous goods. (Submitted by Mike Kubilius)
"CN did not reply to repeated requests to identify the contents of all the cars." Giscome Elementary School, which was just 200 feet from the railroad, is still evacuated. The kids are being bused to other schools. CN originally claimed there were 20 cars with petcoke, and some of it was spilled. TSB determined that 7 additional cars were carrying LPG. A 28th car carrying methanol derailed but stayed upright.
[Several comments wondered if there is regular propane that is not extremely flammable. At least the tank cars seems to have contained the LPG. I gather the school is still evacuated because of all of the cleanup equipment in the area.]