On May 1, 2015, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) long awaited (and already highly controversial) final rule strengthening standards for trains carrying flammable petroleum-based products. Foxx announced the rules with Canadian Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt in a show of solidarity between the U.S. and Canada on the rail transportation of petroleum-based products.

The rule applies to “high-hazard flammable trains” (HHFT), which DOT defines as “a continuous block of 20 or more tank cars loaded with a flammable liquid or 35 or more tank cars loaded with a flammable liquid dispersed through a train.”

The rule has four main components:

• Enhanced tank car standards and an aggressive retrofitting schedule for older tank cars carrying crude oil and ethanol;
• A new braking standard for certain trains;
• New operational protocols for trains transporting large volumes of flammable liquids, such as routing requirements, speed restrictions, and information for local government agencies; and
• New sampling and testing requirements to improve classification of energy products placed into transport.

Enhanced Standards for New and Existing Tank Cars for use in an HHFT: New tank cars constructed after October 1, 2015, are required to meet the new DOT Specification 117 design or performance criteria. The prescribed car has a 9/16 inch tank shell, 11 gauge jacket, 1/2 inch full-height head shield, thermal protection, and improved pressure relief valves and bottom outlet valves. Existing tank cars must be retrofitted with the same key components based on a prescriptive, risk-based retrofit schedule. The final rule will require replacing the entire fleet of DOT-111 tank cars for Packing Group I, which covers most crude shipped by rail, within three years and all non-jacketed CPC-1232s, in the same service, within approximately five years.

Enhanced Braking to Mitigate Damage in Derailments: The rule requires HHFTs to have in place a functioning two-way end-of-train (EOT) device or a distributed power (DP) braking system. Trains meeting the definition of a “high-hazard flammable unit train” (HHFUT) must be operated with an electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking system by January 1, 2021. HHFUTs are defined as a single train with 70 or more tank cars loaded with Class 3 flammable liquids with at least one tank car with Packing Group I materials. All other HHFUTs must have ECP braking systems installed after 2023.

Enhanced Operational Controls: The rule restricts all HHFTs to 50 mph in all areas. HHFTs containing any tank cars not meeting the enhanced tank car standards required by this rule are restricted to operating at a 40 mph speed restriction in high-threat urban areas. (The 40 mph restriction for HHFTs without new or retrofitted tank cars is also currently required under FRA’s Emergency Order No. 30.) In addition, railroads operating HHFTs must perform a routing analysis that considers, at a minimum, 27 safety and security factors, including “track type, class, and maintenance schedule” and “track grade and curvature,” and select a route based on its findings. Railroads also must provide state and/or regional fusion centers, and state, local and tribal officials with a railroad point of contact for information related to the routing of hazardous materials through their jurisdictions. (This replaces the proposed requirement for railroads to notify State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs) or other appropriate state-designated entities about the operation of these trains through their States.)

More Accurate Classification of Unrefined Petroleum-Based Products: Offerors must develop and carry out sampling and testing programs for all unrefined petroleum-based products, such as crude oil, to address the criteria and frequency of sampling to improve and ensure accuracy. Offerors must certify that hazardous materials subject to the program are packaged in accordance with the test results, document the testing and sampling program outcomes, and make that information available to DOT personnel upon request.

The rule should be published in the Federal Register shortly. It will become effect 60 days after it is published.