How BNSF Responds to Rail Incidents

Concerns about transportation of crude oil created strong interest at the Regional Interagency Steering Committee meeting in the presentation by BNSF Railway. Ryan Risdon, manager of BNSF’s Hazardous Materials, Field Operations and Emergency Response department, offered details on rail safety and on BNSF’s prevention and response capabilities.

Safety

Despite the series of recent derailments in North America, including the March 2015 derailment of a BNSF train in Illinois when five tank cars loaded with crude oil caught fire, Risdon said that rail is one of the safest ways to transport crude oil and hazardous materials in North America. He said that 99.997 percent of crude shipments shipped without incident, and that 2012-2014 were the safest years on record, despite rail volumes of all kinds increasing as the oil production increased.

Prevention

Ryan Risdon, manager of HAZMAT Field Operations for BNSF Railroad, laid out how his company can respond to a railroad incident.

BNSF’s safety approach is based on prevention. It includes increased trackside safety technology and track inspections above Federal Railroad Administration requirements on crude oil routes; voluntary speed reduction to 35 miles per hour for all shale crude oil trains traveling through cities with populations of 100,000 or larger; investment into replacing wooden ties with concrete ones; “positive train control,” which involves real-time GPS monitoring of trains and the ability to stop them remotely, if necessary; a robust network of detectors; reinforcement of infrastructure; mechanical and engineering enhancements; constant improvements in operating practices; weather alerts, and more.

Community

Risdon’s responsibility for BNSF hazmat incidents stretches across Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Mexico. He said the company wants to help local communities prepare for possible incidents, and is active in emergency response training and community outreach.

Tools available to local communities from BNSF include making data from its real-time GIS tracking application available to state emergency-response agencies. BNSF’s 25 industrial fire-fighting foam trailers, and contractors to operate the equipment, are also available for communities in case of ethanol and/or crude oil spill incidents within a 150-mile radius of each of the trailer’s prepositioned locations. Other available resources include trailers that provide emergency breathable air, magnetic patches, chlorine kits, air monitoring assets, and emergency response kits for stopping a wide variety of railroad car leaks.

Response

Resources that could come to the scene include BNSF railroad police, wrecking contractors, hazmat and environmental contractors, trainmasters, and mechanical foremen. There are 250 BNSF hazmat responders, operations supervisors, and train crews prepositioned at 60 locations that can be respond to an incident, and who will work within the local unified incident command. BNSF’s Dispatch Center will reply to any rail-related emergency.

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Last Updated:

08/22/2016 - 08:19