Dozens of trains haul volatile Bakken oil to NY weekly: railroads
Source: Reuters
Dozens of trains haul volatile Bakken oil to NY weekly: railroads
BY JOSHUA SCHNEYER
Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:50pm EDT
(Reuters) - As many as 44 trains loaded with volatile Bakken crude oil are being sent through the state of New York each week, according to confidential disclosures made by railroads to state emergency responders, and released to Reuters through a Freedom of Information Law request.
The disclosures come as New York and other states grapple with health and safety risks posed by a recent surge in oil-by-rail cargoes, following at least six fiery derailments of trains carrying Bakken oil in North America since last July.
The New York State Emergency Response Commission released disclosures from railroads CSX Corp and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd on Tuesday. They estimate the number of trains carrying at least 1 million gallons of crude oil from the Bakken region that each railroad sends through New York weekly.
CSX sends 20 to 35 trains of Bakken crude through New York each week. Some of them travel through as many as 17 different counties, the disclosure shows. The so-called unit trains consist of strings of tank cars more than a mile long, and typically carry 1 million to 2 million gallons, or as much as 70,000 barrels of crude each, according to oil and shipping industry estimates.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/15/us-oil-trains-new-york-idUSKBN0FK2NR20140715