Just before 9 p.m. ET on February 3, a 150-car, 9,000 foot long, Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, a quarter mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. Twenty of the affected cars contained...more
In Ohio, the nation’s capital, and across the country, legislators have taken action in response to the Norfolk Southern train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3. Here are the top three things to...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a March 17th document to State Environmental Commissioners, Directors, and Secretaries titled: Alert Regarding Disposal of Hazardous Waste Material from...more
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that it has doubled all of its rail safety civil monetary penalty (CMP) base amounts for violations of rail safety and hazardous materials regulations. The changes are...more
The divisions in this country are not just political, they also relate to attitudes toward responsibility. In a survey and study that Persuasion Strategies conducted this past month (July, 2019), we asked respondents about...more
Although we cover a wide variety of topics and issues on this blog, one issue that recurs with some frequency is the appropriate application of suit limitation provisions that are found in most property policies. ...more
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (“Court”) addressed in an October 1st opinion whether the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (“HMTA” or “Act”) preempted state tort law claims in...more
As the December 31, 2018 deadline approaches for freight, passenger, and commuter railroads to implement Positive Train Control (“PTC”), the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) is reporting on the progress of individual...more
Prompted by regulatory changes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding emission standards for locomotives, several railroads and locomotive manufacturers have been working for several years to develop...more
Need for Positive Train Control is Past Due - The deadline for installing and implementing positive train control, known as PTC, is Dec. 31, 2018. It likely will come and go, with a majority of the country’s railways...more
Amtrak trains have been involved in four deaths since December 2017, including the most recent tragedy in South Carolina that killed two crew members and injured more than 100 passengers....more
Train Wreck Reports are developing that the recent and tragic crash of an AmTrak train, running on CSX rails, might have been avoided if a safety feature called a “positive train control” (PTC) had been employed at the time....more
Another tragedy on an AMTRAK train has caused the loss of lives and serious injuries in Dupont, Washington this morning. There are reports the train, the Cascades service from Seattle to Portland was travelling on tracks...more
Positive Train Control ("PTC") is a system that will automatically apply the train’s brakes in certain situations. PTC systems consist of technologies designed to help detect dangerous situations and automatically intervene...more
An Amtrak train collided with a maintenance vehicle in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two Amtrak employees, Backhoe operator Joseph Carter Jr., and supervisor Peter Adamovich in the early morning of April 3, 2016. About 30...more
In XL Insurance Company SE v AXA Corporate Solutions Assurance [2015] EWHC 3431 (Comm), the Commercial Court has held that, pursuant to Article 4 of EU Regulation 1215/2012, it had no jurisdiction to hear a dispute between a...more
This week’s horrific Amtrak accident just outside Philadelphia served as a grim reminder of our country’s political and economic challenges concerning infrastructure development. It perhaps gained even more attention than...more
Today, May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration published a final rule for rail transport of crude oil in the Federal Register. These rules come after several high-profile oil train derailments,...more
The increase in North American petroleum production in recent years, coupled with inadequate pipeline infrastructure, has resulted in a significant rise of, and reliance on, the transport of crude oil by rail. Public...more
Few of us can erase from our memories the imagery of fires blazing at the scenes of crude oil train derailments in West Virginia in early February and in Illinois earlier this month. The fact that these trains carrying Bakken...more
Our November 13 post noted that most of the crude oil from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota is shipped to ports and refineries throughout the United States by rail, typically in unit trains with one hundred cars or more....more
Happy Days Are Here Again? Gasoline prices have been falling steadily for months. Now a gallon may be purchased for substantially less than three dollars in many regions of the country. ...more
Bakken crude producers and midstream transportation companies already experience transportation woes related to inadequate pipeline infrastructure, railroad capacity, tank car supply, rail accidents, and new regulations. But...more
The District of New Jersey’s recent decision in In re Paulsboro Derailment Cases, No. 13-784 (D.N.J. Aug. 20, 2014), demonstrates the increasing importance of the implied requirement of ascertainability and provides guidance...more