Early Reports On The Bakken Crude OIl / Grain Train Collision

Updates

February 8, 2017: NTSB releases its findings, after five years -- a broken axle on the train carrying soybeans. The CBR train was not at blame one iota. 

January 6, 2014: The Dickinson Press is reporting that in the past nine years there have been four (4) derailments west of Fargo, near Casselton, where the most recent Bakken crude oil unit train derailed/three explosions after hitting a derailed train carrying soybeans.

January 2, 2014: both tracks are back to operating normally. The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

BNSF Railway has reopened the two lines at Casselton that were shut down Monday when a crude oil-carrying train derailed and caught fire.

One of the lines reopened at 3 a.m. Thursday and the second about 15 minutes later. Railroad spokeswoman Amy McBeth says trains have been operating on the route since then without incident.

Later, 9:32 p.m. Pacific Time: Oil produced in North Dakota's Bakken formation for delivery at Clearbrook, Minnesota, was unchanged at a discount of $8.25 a barrel versus U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude yesterday.

Later, 9:32 p.m. Pacific Time: Bloomberg is reporting (linked at Clearbrook, MN, news site):

A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying oil erupted into flames after colliding with railcars that went off the tracks earlier yesterday in North Dakota, causing a series of explosions that forced local residents to take cover.

The accident occurred at 2:10 p.m. local time near Casselton, North Dakota, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Fargo, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BNSF said in a statement on its website. About 12 railcars were ablaze as of 5 p.m., prompting emergency responders to issue a shelter-in-place order for Casselton, Cecily Fong, a spokeswoman for the state Emergency Services Department, said by telephone.

It was the fourth major North American derailment in six months by trains transporting crude. Record volumes of oil are moving by rail as shale plays from North Dakota to Texas have spurred U.S. output to the most since 1988 and pipeline capacity has failed to keep up. Berkshire’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad carried about 500,000 barrels of oil a day in March, Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett said at the time.

“A westbound train carrying soybeans derailed just west of Casselton just after 2 p.m., and then an eastbound train carrying oil hit that derailed train, causing a series of explosions and then a subsequent fire,” Fong said.

 Original Post

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

A westbound grain train derailed, crashing into an eastbound crude oil train, which caused it to derail one mile west of Casselton about 2:10 p.m., said BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth.

About 10 of the 106 oil train cars are fully engulfed in flames after the collision, and fire and hazmat crews are on scene, keeping the fire at bay. No crew members reported injuries after the accident, McBeth said.

Meanwhile in a related/unrelated story, being reported by the Dallasbizjournal.com:

Burlington Northern xpects to be hauling 1 million barrels of crude oil per day by the end of 2014, said Matthew K. Rose, executive chairman of the railroad.

My colleague Bill Hethcock talked to Rose Monday morning about his role on the AT&T board of directors but also asked a few questions about the booming oil by rail industry.

Right now, Fort Worth-based BNSF is hauling about 750,000 barrels of oil from places like the Bakken in North Dakota and the Permian Basin in West Texas to refineries.

It's possible crude-by-rail would have become a big player in oil shipment regardless of the Keyston XL decision, but there's no question that President Obama killing the "XL" at the behest of activist environmentalists hastened the day that CBR would be so important to the oil industry. It's really quite a story. On so many levels. Here's just one story, being reported by WyomingStarTribune: CBR raises concerns of small Wyoming towns --

It's tough to miss the trains hauling crude oil out of the Northern Plains. They are growing more frequent by the day, mile-long processions of black tank cars that rumble through wheat fields and towns, along rivers and national parks.

As common as they have become across the U.S. and Canada, officials in dozens of towns and cities where the oil trains travel say they are concerned with the possibility of a major derailment, spill or explosion, while their level of preparation varies widely.

Stoking those fears was the July crash of a crude train from the Bakken oil patch in Lac Megantic, Quebec — not far from the Maine border — that killed 47 people. A Nov. 8 train derailment in rural Alabama where several oil cars exploded reinforced them.

"It's a grave concern," said Dan Sietsema, the emergency coordinator in northeastern Montana's Roosevelt County, where oil trains now pass regularly through the county seat of Wolf Point. "It has the ability to wipe out a town like Wolf Point."

The number of carloads hauled by U.S. railroads has surged in recent years, from 10,840 in 2009 to a projected 400,000 this year.

As noted earlier,  it might have happened anyway, but there is no question that President Obama killing the Keystone XL....well, you know...