April 6, 2015 – The Wall Street Journal
Fewer Oil Trains Ply America’s Rails
By: Alison Sider
The growth in oil-train shipments fueled by the U.S. energy boom has stalled in recent months, dampened by safety problems and low crude prices.
The number of train cars carrying crude and other petroleum products peaked last fall, according to data from the Association of American Railroads, and began edging down. In March, oil-train traffic was down 7% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-shipments-by-rail-take-slow-track-1428348393
At least four trains carrying crude have derailed since February, and in some cases tanker cars filled with oil have erupted into fireballs.
BNSF said it shut its main railroad track through northern Illinois for four days last month following an oil-train explosion in Galena, Ill., 160 miles west of Chicago, which caused delays. And deliveries to a major oil-train unloading terminal in Yorktown, Va., were halted for a week in late February following a CSX derailment in West Virginia that sparked a massive fire, according to Genscape Inc., an energy monitoring firm that tracks oil-train traffic.
Languishing oil prices also make oil-train transportation look too expensive when compared to shipping in foreign oil.
“With lower crude prices, the extra cost of rail makes it a tougher choice,” compared to importing tankers filled with foreign crude, said Sandy Fielden, an analyst with RBN Energy LLC.
