Editorial: New rail safety regs aren't strong enough to stop a suburban disaster
As we said in this space on Tuesday, we're uncomfortable with the risks we're all being forced to take as railroads carry more and more oil from North Dakota and Canada through the Chicago area on its way to other parts of the country.
The new regulations, unveiled May 1 by federal regulators after at least two years of study, are meant to mitigate a lot of that risk by demanding new, stronger tank cars that can withstand derailment without puncturing, but safety critics say that while the new cars are a good step, the new regulations don't go far enough.
We're inclined to agree. And now, Aurora and Barrington have teamed up on a legal challenge to the new regulations, and we think they've hit the nail on the head.
In their petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th circuit, Aurora and Barrington argue that the new regulations still permit too many of the old kind of tank car to carry hazardous material through the suburbs. Unit trains are allowed to have as many as 19 old-style tank cars in a block — all carrying hazardous material — without having to use the new, stronger cars. Or, up to 34 in an entire train.
Theoretically, a train could have 19 tank cars carrying hazardous material, followed by a couple of non-hazmat cars, followed by another 15 hazmat cars — all without being required to use the safer cars.
Would such a train makeup have saved the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, which was all but destroyed on July 6, 2013, when an unattended freight train carrying crude oil rolled downhill, derailed and exploded, killing at least 47 people?
It's all too arbitrary. Why are 19 cars blocked together less dangerous than 20?
They aren't. The solution, as Barrington, Aurora and others see it, is to require all oil and ethanol to be transported in the stronger, safer cars. Those cars will have a thicker 9/16-inch tank shell and a ½-inch shield that runs the full height of the front and back of the car, as well as thermal protection better pressure-relief valves.
There's a cost to them, of course.
Railroads have always carried flammable materials. The difference now, with oil production surging in places like the Bakken region of North Dakota, is how much more is being transported. A lot of it is passing through cities like Chicago and Philadelphia and the suburbs.
It's good business. But it also increases the risk.
We are pleased that Barrington and Aurora are among the agencies putting pressure on the Department of Transportation to fix the holes in their new regulations, and to require — in a reasonable timeline — all hazardous material to be transported in safer tank cars.
Accidents will happen. The key is to make every effort to prevent an accident from becoming a disaster.