DOT Train Changes Don’t Go Far Enough

A new rail proposal by the Department of Transportation would

reduce the permitted speed of trains carrying crude oil, improve braking systems, require better information about the flammability of crude and improve tanks cars. It is also likely to force the retirement of tens of thousands of tank cars. Citizens Acting for Rail Safety, or CARS member, Maureen Friedland of La Crosse tells us what they would like to see happen.

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The Transportation Department noted the growing public risk involved in crude movements, which it said had grown to 415 thousand rail cars last year from just 9,500 in 2009, often traveling more than 1,000 miles from the new Bakken oil fields in North Dakota.