Will stronger tank cars help?

摘要

The U.S. Department of Transportation published the final rule concerning enhanced tank car standards on May 1. While there is a collective sigh of relief that the industry finally has the delayed rule, as well as the news that the Canadian and U.S. tank car standards will mirror one another, it has not escaped criticism from just about every stakeholder. The rule makes the toughest of the tougher tank car standards, the DOT-117, the benchmark for all cars built after October 1, 2015. The schedule to retrofit older DOT-111 cars and CPC-1232 cars, so-called "good faith" cars, varies with the earliest deadline being January 2018 for non-jacketed DOT-111 cars in crude oil service.