New Rail Safety Measures address DOT-111 tank car issues

Update from Andy Davidoff Area I Director

On  April 23, 2014, the members of the National Municipal Rail Safety Working Group and Transport Minister Lisa Raitt met in Ottawa to discuss the recent progress made by the federal government on rail safety issues.

We were pleased that Mayor Collette Roy-Laroche of Lac-Mégantic, QC was also able to attend the meeting and share her community’s perspective on improving Canada’s rail safety rules.

This week’s meeting coincided with the deadline for Transport Canada to respond to the interim rail safety recommendations made by the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) in January.

Many of the recommendations were ones that FCM has been calling for since the formation of our National Rail Safety Working Group.

Following the meeting, Minister Raitt announced the following new rail safety measures in response to the TBS recommendations:

◦ 5,000 of the least crash-resistant DOT-111 tank cars are being removed from dangerous goods service immediately;

◦ All remaining DOT-111 tank cars used to transport crude oil and ethanol that do not meet the most recent tank car standard must be phased out or refitted within 3 years;

◦ Emergency Response Assistance Plans are now required for all shipments of crude oil, ethanol, gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel;

◦ Railways are now required to reduce the speed of trains carrying dangerous goods and conduct robust risk assessments along all routes; and

◦ A new emergency response task force, including municipalities and first responders, will make additional recommendations to improve emergency response capacity in our communities.

The new safety measures announced this week respond directly to FCM’s call for urgent and concrete action by the federal government and are a critical step forward in improving the safe transportation of dangerous goods by rail.

We will continue to be vigilant in calling for additional reforms over the coming months.

We are finally starting to move in the right direction on this issue.

Andy Davidoff

RDCK Area I

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