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Oil via rail

General discussions of the systemic, societal and civilisational effects of depletion.

Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby kuidaskassikaeb » Wed 29 Jan 2014, 17:14:56

Rockman wrote

k - I went thru all the links you provided...thanks. And every one shows that the Alberta govt has made a positive net on the oil sands development. One could easily argue they might have made more with a different tax/royalty structure. But that different system might not have led to as much development and net income for Alberta.


I think you are half correct. They made a lot of money in 2012, but in 2013, which as you point out constantly was a record year, they had an austerity budget. This still makes no sense to me. It's also not clear that tar sands is a net gain because different pockets for costs, and the accounting is not simple, and Alberta appears to be a partner is some of the enterprises. But that's just a quibble. Governments aren't supposed to make money anyway, they're supposed to break even.

BTW I stumbled through the Soplaaris blog. Found lots of opinions and almost no documented facts.


I'm gonna sound like Clinton here, but I'm not sure what you mean by facts. He pretty much destroyed the Canada is being cheated out of 50,000,000 loonies a day argument. And he did name companies that dug and refined tar sands, in other words buyers and sellers. There are vertically integrated oil companies, I think you'll agree.

I have noticed that the economics of tar sands is a contentious thing in Canada, and my first impression from the reading is that I can find somebody who has written a good defense of any opinion I choose to have.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Thu 30 Jan 2014, 14:22:34

k - I'll have to dig in deeper. But as far as Alberta austerity budget that's a function of what they spend vs. what they take in. And everything I've read indicates the province took in more revenue for the oil sands lasyt year then ever before.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Thu 30 Jan 2014, 14:27:26

And speaking of unhappy folks: A group that advocates for train and rail transit passengers says a massive increase in rail shipments of crude oil from the northern Plains is partly to blame for disruptions to an Amtrak route linking Chicago and the West Coast. Amtrak's Empire Builder service runs along a BNSF Railway route that has seen an increase in oil shipments from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.

Winter weather has exacerbated several months of disruptions. Westbound Amtrak trains this week have had to bypass several stops stretching across much of North Dakota, forcing the railroad to use buses to get passengers to those destinations. Delays have reached up to 10 hours. BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth said severe weather was to blame for the most recent impacts. To try to reduce congestion from increased freight volumes, she said the railroad invested more than $200 million in North Dakota last year and plans more improvements this year that will benefit all rail users.

As far as the Amtrak disruptions, the passenger rail service and BNSF and have had discussions on ways to resolve the issue, but the freight railroad has advised Amtrak not to expect improvements for months, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. "While severe weather has played a contributing factor, the delays are in large part due to the logjam of rail congestion caused by hundreds of additional freight trains transporting crude oil extracted in North Dakota to refineries in other parts of the U.S.," said the letter from the National Association of Railroad Passengers to Secretary Foxx. Ross Capon, president of the rail passenger advocacy group, calls the situation intolerable. "Crude oil is being given priority over people," Capon said.

Mr. Capon is in correct: crude oil is not being given priority over people. People who want the crude oil are being given priority over people who want to ride the train. As has been said before: all people are equal...just some more equal then others.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby kuidaskassikaeb » Thu 30 Jan 2014, 16:51:41

I was riding the trains this winter, and they were later than usual. But the train one way broke down, and the other way it had frozen toilets and couldn't leave the station.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Tue 04 Feb 2014, 19:00:42

Canadian group pushes rail line from oil sands to Alaska

Could a $15 billion railroad project reduce the cost of living in Alaska overnight? Matt Vickers, a lead member in the startup group G7G Railway Corp., thinks it can.

Vickers' Vancouver-based group is proposing a 1,600-mile railroad from Fort McMurray, Alberta, into Alaska. About 240 miles of the rail would be laid in the state. The railroad would primarily transport bitumen from Alberta's tar sands to Delta Junction, where the project's creators hope to tap into TAPS, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

That version of the project would depend on the Alaska Railroad Corporation extending its rail line 80 miles from North Pole to Delta Junction. Vickers thinks it could inject up to a million barrels a day through the pipeline down to Valdez.

Is it too good to be true? Well, there are some major safety concerns when transporting oil by rail that weren't covered in Vickers' presentation to the Senate and House Transportation Committees, although he did say that the rail was being designed using the best technology available.

"That is the beauty of what we're able to do because it's purpose built," Vickers said. "We get to use all the technology; we don't have to chase from behind to catch up. It's the best available, including safer rail cars we're designing ourselves, different types of fuel that we can burn and everything that's available to us."

The project is still awaiting a "pre-feasibility study." Once completed, G7G hopes to be able to raise $40 million to complete a full feasibility study. Vickers said researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Michigan are investigating the potential for the railroad to transport minerals from Yukon mines.



You guys think big; that's what I love about Canadians," Bishop said. "There's no hill too steep, no ditch too deep. If there's a hole in the ground around the world, there's a Canadian standing in the middle of it ... I wish you the best of luck and thanks for the presentation."


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 05 Feb 2014, 17:15:53

Extra-Flammable Crude Oil Headed For Trains Was Not Labeled Properly, Investigation Shows

Three independent companies that transport North Dakota crude oil by train have not been properly labeling the oil as it goes en route from cargo tanks to the actual train, investigators for the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said Tuesday.

PHMSA has proposed a total of $93,000 in combined fines for Hess Corporation, Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation, and Marathon Oil Company for not using proper “hazard classes” to label crude oil. PHMSA said the offense “could result in material being shipped in containers that are not designed to safely store it.”
Though a $31,000 is probably not a huge dent for a company like Hess, which in 2012 made $37.6 million in revenue and $12.7 million in gross profits, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is hoping the fines will represent a larger message for the oil industry.

“The fines we are proposing today should send a message to everyone involved in the shipment of crude oil: You must test and classify this material properly if you want to use our transportation system to ship it,” Foxx said in a statement.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Thu 13 Feb 2014, 15:13:40

NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A Norfolk Southern Corp train carrying crude oil derailed in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, adding to a string of recent accidents that have prompted calls to increase safety standards. There were no reports of injuries or fire at the scene, after 21 tank cars came off the track near an industrial park at a bend by the Kiskiminetas River in the town of Vandergrift, according to town and company officials. The train, that was heading from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, was mainly carrying crude oil but included one car containing propane gas, one local official said.

The train crashed into one building owned by MSI Corporation in the industrial complex. All employees had been accounted for, said Sandy Smythe, a public information officer with Westmoreland County's public safety department, which includes Vandergrift borough. There has been no evidence of any leaking from the tankers that came off the tracks, Smythe said.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Thu 13 Feb 2014, 16:08:12

And again with $TRILLIONS in profit at stake it’s rather Pollyannaish IMHO to think solutions won’t be found to developing problems:

A railroad transportation equipment and service provider will design a new generation “Tank Car of the Future” for the transport by railroad of crude oil, ethanol and other flammable freight that can better withstand the additional demands associated with operating unit trains. The Greenbrier Companies is proposing the new design in response to criticisms of the existing legacy fleet of older DOT-111 tank cars. The new design is intended to meet anticipated new industry and government standards for tank cars transporting certain hazardous material, the company said in a statement.

The new design will incorporate thicker heads and more welding equipment for production lines to make bigger welds for the thicker tank, a company representative told Rigzone. The company believes it can deliver the first of these new cars in 12 to 18 months. Ideally, the first delivery will take place sooner, but this is subject to material, supply and other factors, as well as regulatory guidance. The company will build the cars using its existing construction capacity, and believes it can build 2,500 to 3,000 of these new tank cars of the future in North America. According to industry research, the bottom and top appurtenances on the legacy DOT-111 tank cars are impacted in high speed derailments. Greenbrier’s proposed retrofit is targeted to improve these tank car features, and adds head shields, to achieve better performance in a derailment event.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 13 Feb 2014, 17:15:39

Looks like the public doesn't like oil trains moving through their communities.

Battle over oil trains begins, perhaps, with a crowded meeting

In a meeting that likely signaled the beginning to a much bigger battle, city and state legislators joined with hundreds of community activists and environmentalists at Giffen Elementary School, in one of this city's poorest neighborhoods, to protest the increase in crude oil shipped by rail through Albany.

The shipments here are expected to grow to more than three billion gallons a year, if current trends continue.

At issue were claims by Global Companies, which has asked the state for permission to expand its operation here, that increasing oil shipments would not increase rail traffic or adversely affect poor and minority communities near the tracks.

Global officials have revealed very little about their plans and were supposed to answer public questions at Wednesday's meeting in the South End, but instead issued a statement before the meeting and gave a brief presentation and would not answer a reporter's questions. Attendees demanded a more thorough environmental study of the shipments, which the D.E.C. previously said was not necessary.


Opposition will only grow in other communities as more people are alerted to the oil now flowing by rail through their communities, said Kate Hudson, watershed program director of Riverkeeper, the Hudson River advocacy group.

“I haven't seen anything like this,” she said. “This is more grassroots than even the fracking fight.”

Trains laden with Bakken crude oil from North Dakota have derailed, exploded and killed dozens in a series of high-profile accidents since this summer, drawing serious safety warnings from federal regulators. In just the last few months, virtually all of the state's major environmental groups have turned the attention of their members to crude oil shipments. They've even been joined by national groups including 350.org and MoveOn.org.

Giffen Elementary School is literally on the wrong side of the tracks, close to the Port of Albany, where tankers carry fuel down the river. Not far away, dozens of train cars laden with crude park just 25 feet from a public housing complex. One on hand, the groups in Albany are fighting over a specific piece of the state bureaucratic machine: an air quality permit for a facility to heat crude oil. But the deeper battle is a national issue playing out at the very local level as oil trains expand from 9,500 in 2008 to 400,000 in 2013. Oil trains run through hundreds of New York communities, along a thousand miles of track, and Andrew Cuomo recently pushed for increased federal scrutiny on train safety and added five freight inspectors in his budget proposal.


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Can we expect more of this?

New numbers in a federal database show that a Dec. 30 train derailment near Casselton, N.D., spilled nearly 475,000 gallons of crude oil, more than officials originally estimated.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration maintains a database on such spills going back to 1975. A McClatchy analysis of the data last month showed that more crude oil was spilled from trains in 2013 than in the previous four decades combined.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Fri 14 Feb 2014, 17:28:56

Trains That Go Boom

For most of the 14 years that Tinamarie Hatlee has lived in Ravena, N.Y., a small town south of Albany, she didn’t mind the trains that passed 50 feet from the back door of her house. They came only a few times a day and moved slowly, so the noise was bearable. But starting last summer, Hatlee says, the trains have been rumbling by every few hours, from early morning until well past midnight. And they go much quicker, as fast as 50 miles an hour, she estimates. Many are oil trains—hundreds of black tank cars filled with tens of thousands of barrels of crude, mainly from oil fields in North Dakota, on their way to refineries on the East Coast. “It’s terrifying to think of all that oil flying by so close to my house,” Hatlee says. “I don’t understand why they have to go so fast.”

They’re in such a hurry because there’s so much oil to move. Over the past three years, U.S. production has increased by more than 2 million barrels per day to 8 million, and railroads are hauling more fossil fuels than they have in a century. In the third quarter of 2013, trains carried 93,312 carloads of crude oil, or about 66 million barrels—about 900 percent more than in all of 2008. Almost all oil reaches its destination without incident. In recent months, however, an alarming number of oil trains in the U.S. and Canada have derailed, causing spectacular explosions that blackened the sky with burning crude.



But Hersman can’t require oil and rail companies to comply with her recommendations, and they haven’t. President Obama could urge federal regulators to act quickly to come up with new safety rules. Congress could pass legislation. Neither has happened. Obama has been mostly silent on the issue, and congressional leaders haven’t pushed bills to increase rail safety. Hearings on the matter are getting under way on Capitol Hill this month. The government should be “embarrassed by how unprepared they were for this,” says Fred Millar, a rail safety consultant who’s worked for cities and environmental groups.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Tue 18 Feb 2014, 21:06:20

Memo to Harper predicted boom in transporting oil by rail
An internal memorandum to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, prepared more than two years before the Lac-Megantic railway disaster, noted that oil shipments by train were on the verge of expanding by up to 20 times the volume. The memo has prompted the Liberals to ask why the government wasn’t more focused on safety at an earlier stage.
...
A February report, released by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, noted that key experts on a small Transport Canada team overseeing the transportation of dangerous goods were affected by budget cuts prior to the Lac-Megantic accident, leading to some early retirements.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 19 Feb 2014, 17:30:55

Coal And Oil Trains Would ‘Consume Most Of The Existing Rail Capacity’ In West, Report Says

Even with the collapse of plans for building 3 of 6 proposed coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington, the amount of coal that could move from the Powder River Basin to export facilities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and British Columbia by 2023 could still be huge and cause major rail traffic headaches in the region, according to a new study.

The report, by the Western Organization of Resource Councils, predicts that within a decade the number of coal trains, full and empty, moving from mines in Wyoming and Montana across the northern plains and northwest could reach 63 a day. Add in the projected 22 trains carrying crude oil from the Bakken field in North Dakota to proposed and existing oil terminals on the coast and then returning empty to the Bakken and the daily traffic could reach 85 trains a day.
“The voluminous and very profitable…export coal traffic and profitable Bakken oil traffic….would consume most of the existing rail capacity, which would displace traffic and result in higher freight rates for other rail shippers,” the report says. The analysis — titled “Heavy Traffic Still Ahead,” is an updated version of an earlier report in 2012 by the organization, which is a network of regional community action organizations stretching from the Dakotas to Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Terry Whiteside, co-author of the study and a longtime transportation expert, said in a telephone press conference that over the next decade if the remaining coal terminal projects are built there would be extensive problems with railway congestion and traffic problems in the region. “The impact on cities and towns is enormous,” he said, adding that competition with more profitable coal and oil traffic would mean higher rates for grain shippers.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 22 Feb 2014, 13:46:32

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — BNSF Railway Co. said it intends to buy a fleet of 5,000 strengthened tank cars to haul oil and ethanol in a move that would set a higher benchmark for safety within an industry that's seen multiple major accidents. The voluntary step by the Texas-based subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway comes as railroads in the U.S. and Canada are under intense pressure to improve safety for hazardous materials shipments.

Trust Warren to figure how to keep the profits and oil flowing.
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Mon 24 Feb 2014, 18:10:47

Bakken Shale Oil Carries High Combustion Risk

Crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale formation contains several times the combustible gases as oil from elsewhere, a Wall Street Journal analysis found, raising new questions about the safety of shipping such crude by rail across the U.S.

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether such vapors are responsible for recent extraordinary explosions of oil-filled railcars, including one that killed several dozen people in Canada last summer.

The rapid growth of North Dakota crude-oil production—most of it carried by rail—has been at the heart of the U.S. energy boom. The volatility of the crude, however, raises concerns that more dangerous cargo is moving through the U.S. than previously believed.

Neither regulators nor the industry fully has come to terms with what needs to be done to improve safety. There have been some steps, for example, slowing trains and promising to redirect around high-risk areas. But debate still rages over whether railcars need to be strengthened, something the energy industry has resisted.


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If it's dangerous in rail cars, would Bakken crude not also be dangerous in pipelines too?
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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 27 Feb 2014, 18:11:07

Oil-Sands Cargos Face Tougher U.S. Rail-Shipping Rules

Train shipments of crude are under review across North America after a U.S. emergency order requiring new safety measures to prevent accidents. Oil-sands shippers may be scrutinizing the rules most closely.

Oil producers, refiners and logistics companies are comparing their procedures with new rules issued Feb. 25 by the U.S. Transportation Department that require testing all crude before transporting it by rail to ensure the proper containers are used and safety steps are taken. Some crude must be reclassified under a higher risk level, triggering requirements such as stronger rail cars that will be less likely to leak or break open in an accident.

Shippers of bitumen, the thick, tar-like crude from Canada’s oil sands, may be most affected by the new rules just as exports by rail to the U.S. accelerate. More than 200,000 barrels a day of crude are leaving Western Canada by rail, a figure poised to more than double to 500,000 by the end of the year, according to an estimate last month by Peters & Co., a Calgary-based investment bank.

“The biggest impact is going to be on the stuff coming out of Canada, especially the diluted bitumen moving by rail,” Mark Luitwieler, executive vice president of operations for Peaker Energy, a Houston-based company that develops oil-by-rail terminals, said yesterday at the Crude by Rail 2014 conference in Glendale, California.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Fri 28 Feb 2014, 18:53:36

New U.S. rail rules will not revamp old oil tank fleet

New U.S. rules to toughen classification standards for oil-train shipments will affect less than 3 percent of the tank cars now hauling crude across the country, leaving older, flawed models on the tracks, officials and industry sources say.

The emergency order released on Tuesday, a day ahead of a Senate hearing on oil train safety, may affect some bitumen cargoes from Canada, but will do nothing to curb the use of older DOT-111 cars many hold responsible for a string of recent fiery accidents, they said.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 13 Mar 2014, 18:27:23

Towns demand ban on single-hulled oil tank cars

A coalition of U.S. and Canadian municipalities is demanding their governments outlaw the type of oil-laden tank cars that blew up July 7 in Lac-Megantic, Que., killing 47 people, destroying the downtown and contaminating the lake and the entire centre of the town.

The tank cars, known as DOT-111s, are old-line tankers with single-wall, thin-steel bodies that are known to rupture in an accident. They are being used to transport Bakken crude oil, which is among the most volatile of crudes with a boiling point of just 29 to 30 degrees Celsius and a flammability near that of gasoline.

As hot weather approaches and the use of these cars remains high, there is rising concern among municipal leaders that this summer could bring more tragedies like the one in, Karen Darch, co-chair of an Illinois municipal coalition called TRAC, said Tuesday at a news conference at the Canadian embassy.

“We once again urge regulators to take a hard line by forbidding the use of the DOT-111 in the transportation of Bakken crude,” she said.

Darch is part of a group of Canadian and U.S. municipal leaders visiting the U.S. capital to lobby lawmakers and regulators to strength laws and safety regulations for rail shipment of hazardous materials.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Fri 14 Mar 2014, 18:14:28

Why Nothing Will Happen On Oil by Rail Safety

In the past month, there have been numerous public relations efforts suggesting that much is being done to improve oil by rail safety. Unfortunately, it seems these efforts will not involve much more than press releases and hollow promises, as regulators have made no meaningful changes to a broken and ineffective regulatory system.

That approach, combined with the realities of the rail tank car industry, basically ensure that oil will be transported in the unsafe DOT-111 tank cars for many years to come, despite testimony at a recent congressional hearing from Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Sumwalt testified that, “multiple recent serious and fatal accidents reflect substantial shortcomings in tank car design that create an unacceptable public risk.”

Unacceptable to the public, but apparently perfectly acceptable to the industry.

If you are a significant player in the oil and gas industry, you were likely at IHS CERAweek Energy Summit in Houston earlier this month. Also attending were members of the defense industry and speakers such as recently retired Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. This is where the important people speak the truth. So after the public has been placated with articles touting new safety measures for the oil by rail industry, the attendees of CERAweek heard a different message.


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 09 Apr 2014, 18:12:00

Two-Person Crews on Oil Trains to Be Required in U.S.

U.S. regulators, acting after a oil-train derailment last year ignited a fireball that killed 47 people in Canada, said they intend to require at least two crew members for crude shipments, a proposal opposed by the railroads.

The Federal Railroad Administration also will establish minimum crew size standard for most freight trains and passenger rail lines, the agency said in a statement today.

“We are committed to taking the necessary steps to assure the safety of those who work for railroads and shippers, and the residents and communities along shipping routes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

The agency is acting after a train that was operated by one person was left unattended for the night in July and rolled into the center of Lac-Megantic, triggering a fatal explosion that destroyed half the town.

The Association of American Railroads, whose members include Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BNSF, said large railroads already run oil trains with at least two crew members.

Nevertheless, Edward Hamberger, the group’s chief executive officer, said the Federal Railroad Administration “has never shared an iota of data that shows or proves two-person crews are safer.”


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Re: Oil via rail

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 10 Apr 2014, 19:08:33

Crude oil is displacing other commodities on trains, critics charge

Grain producers, manufacturers and coal shippers told federal regulators Thursday that rail service has deteriorated drastically in the nation’s midsection in recent months, leaving crops in piles on the ground and fuel stocks low at electric power plants as resources go undelivered.

Railroad representatives told the federal Surface Transportation Board that a brutal winter, combined with a record grain harvest, was to blame for the delays, but the industry’s critics charge that their shipments are taking a side track to crude oil.

Railroads moved virtually no crude oil just a few years ago, but a surge in production in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region has strained rail capacity in the Midwest.

It’s putting the squeeze on farmers who rely on rail to turn their crops into cash and delaying passengers on Amtrak’s Empire Builder between Chicago and the Northwest, several witnesses testified.

“The extreme delays to Amtrak and other users of the network are a symptom of a fragile network that is strained and struggling to react,” Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo told the board, which mediates disputes between railroads and their customers.

Bob Wisness, the president of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association, said the rail snarls had put his state’s farmers in jeopardy. Millions of bushels of wheat, barley and corn are “unmarketable” because of rail deliveries that are weeks and months late.

“We have had big crops before,” he testified, “but we have never had service this poor from the railroads.”


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