ONE TRACK MINDS

Much has been said about how spending more money on infrastructure would have prevented the recent Pennsylvania train crash.  Of course, we all know that was not the cause of that accident. 

But, there's another move on by the feds in Washington that doesn't make any sense, either.  Supposedly, there's this new type of tanker car that is much safer than the tanker cars of today and years past.  One of the associated arguments for building the XL Pipeline is that transportation of oil by train is more dangerous; indeed, that seems to be the case.  Part of that hysteria is due to the fact that transportation of oil by train has increased from 9,500 carloads to over 450,000 carloads per year over the last few years; and, the explosive volatility of oil being transported has increased as there has been a shift to oil from developed from tar sands and fracking.  

But, the federal government is once again trying to throw money at the problem by making a mandatory upgrade to these newer and "safer" tank cars.  Newer tank cars have already been involved in train accidents and have proven to be more susceptible to leaks of crude oil which result in more explosions.  

It seems to be that the fundamental issue in Pennsylvania and in the oil tanker problem is the same: safety.  The answer is to slow down the trains, take more care to ensure braking systems and signals are working properly and to have more frequent,  and meaningful, safety training sessions with train operators.   

To that extent, the current failures can be blamed on the railroad operating companies.