Fiery train derailment tracks in questions

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Cass County board chairman Ken Pawluk, left and County Administrator Keith Berndt confer following a news conference Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013, in Casselton, N.D. A train carrying crude oil derailed near Casselton Monday afternoon. Several explosions were reported as some cars on the mile-long train caught fire. (AP Photo/Bruce Crummy)

A fiery oil train derailment's near-miss of a small North Dakota town had its mayor angrily calling for federal officials to do more to guarantee the safety of the nation's growing shipment of oil by rail.

Government regulators defended their record on moving hazardous materials by rail, noting that 2012 was the safest year in the industry's history. But oil trains have bucked that trend, thanks in part to the massive amount of oil being moved out of western North Dakota, where the industry's rapid growth is far outpacing pipeline development.

No one was hurt when the mile-long BNSF Railway train derailed Monday afternoon near the eastern North Dakota town of Casselton, but the overturned tankers — exploding and engulfed in plumes of flames and black smoke for more than 24 hours — burned so hot that emergency crews didn't even attempt to put out the blaze. Most of Casselton's roughly 2,400 residents agreed to temporarily evacuate due to concerns about unsafe air.

"This is too close for comfort," Casselton Mayor Ed McConnell said Tuesday.

While the overall rate of oil train accidents remains low — less than 0.1 per cent of crude-carrying tank cars have suffered accidental releases this year — there's been a sharp increase in the number of releases over the past several years. That's driven by a surge in drilling for unconventional shale oil in North Dakota and other western states.

Through early November, the most recent data available, crude releases have been reported from 137 rail cars in 2013, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal accident records. By comparison, only one release was reported in 2009, before the boom got well underway.

The rail tracks in eastern North Dakota run through the middle of Casselton, about 25 miles west of Fargo. McConnell estimated that dozens of people could have been killed if the derailments had happened within the town.

The mayor said it was time to "have a conversation" with federal lawmakers about the dangers of transporting oil by rail.

"There have been numerous derailments in this area," he told the AP. "It's almost gotten to the point that it looks like not if we're going to have an accident, it's when."

Gov. Jack Dalrymple visited Casselton, his hometown, to view the scene. He called it a "major catastrophe" that would prompt concern no matter where it happened.

"People will be asking a lot of questions about the safety of equipment, the safety of railroad operations, and why did the derailment occur in the first place," Dalrymple said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is heading the investigation, said it would examine the train recorder, the signal system, the condition of the train operators, train and tracks, as well as the response to the derailment.

NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said the tankers involved were older-model DOT-111s, which have shown a tendency to rupture in other accidents. Tank car makers have been rebuilding the DOT-111, the workhorse of the oil-by-rail industry, to tougher safety standards since a 2009 crash of an ethanol train near Rockford, Ill., but most of the nation's fleet has not yet been retrofitted.

Federal officials have said they stepped up inspections of oil trains even before the Quebec accident. But Lustig said he's seen no evidence that any corrective measures were taken for whatever defects were discovered.