Huge Explosion After Train Crash North Dakota

Much of eastern ND (and some of extreme northeastern SD) is part of a sixth ancient Great Lake.  They named it Lake Aggassize or something.  The lake formed from the last glacier, about 10,000 years ago.  This part of ND is extremely flat.  The river there (Red River) is geologically new and doesn't have a well established river bed yet.  When the snow melts in SD, MN & ND it has to flow north, to Hudson Bay.  Problem is while the southern end of the river basin might be thawing, the northern end is still solidly frozern.  Water backs up.  None of this has any effect on the Casselton area, though.  It's further west, and the elevation is just a bit higher and the land is better drained.

More likely, I think this was caused by the extreme temps we've been having.  It's been down to at least thirty below around there, and last week it got up to around +40, I think.  That's a 70 degree swing in just a few days.  I know that the day before the wreck the temps dropped about 40 degrees in about half a day.  Remember that those CWR tracks are very very long, and over that kind of distance the steel will contract and expand with considerable pressure exerted. Another factor up here is heave.  The ground is frozen solid about three feet down, maybe more in places.  If the subsoil is unusually wet, it will expand as it freezes.  The only way it has to expand is to push up.  The grade crossings around here can get very rough in winter because the water runs off the roadway and then off the grade crossing, where it saturates the ground.  It can then heave the tracks up (or heave the roadway up.)  At some locations here you can hear the loud "WHOOMP!" as the trains drop several inches down following the rails.  Yet another factor is how brittle steel gets in sub zero temps, which have been VERY common this winter.  It's 4 below at my house now, and in Casselton it's already 20 below.  It will be even colder by dawn.  These are not unusual temps for winter.  Yet another possibility is maybe there was a switch through there.  Snow clogs switches around here all the time, and maybe a hopper wheel picked a point or something.

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/nd...z/Lake%20Agassiz.asp

Kent in SD

Yes, and for politicos that are anti-train generally. We have a group of local mayors that were adamantly opposed to the acquisition of the EJ&E by the CN several years ago.(Train volume was to increase from 4 a day to 20+). They wrung a number of concessions from the CN before dropping the lawsuit and regulatory machinations they became involved with. Now, every time there's a derailment, especially a "spectacular" one, they make all kinds of noise about it. We'll hear more from them in the coming days.

Chart is from Wikipedia, Thank you.

Click on individual components to link the Wikipedia information on each.  Working your way across the chart to the second column Alkene quickly put you into basic building blocks for plastics, We are still waiting, here in the Beaver Valley, PA to hear from Shell Oil as to whether a basic plastics plant will be built on the old Zinc Corporation of America Site. It is interesting to note that there are tremendous investments in these processing facilities in Texas (Houston), but most final product manufacturing using the plastic pellets from this basic process is in the Northeast.  Transportation of raw product from the northeast, central US and Canada to Texas and then transportation of finish product back to consumer populations is a huge consideration as we expand this domestic resource.   IMO   Mike CT 

Simple hydrocarbons and their variations[edit]

Usage[edit]

"A safety alert issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warns the public, emergency responders and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch. The sprawling oil shale reserve is fueling the surging industry in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, which is now the nation's second-largest oil producer behind Texas.

Thursday's announcement declares that the Bakken's light, sweet crude oil may be different from traditional heavy crudes because it is prone to ignite at a lower temperature. Experts say lighter crudes, which contain more natural gas, have a much lower "flash point"—the temperature at which vapors given off by the oil can ignite."

But North Dakota has been fighting efforts to investigate the volatility of their crude oil. Money is more important to them than safety.

I've read that some types of this crude will ignite as temperatures as low as 68 degrees.

"North Dakota regulators had said last month that they were considering crafting a report to disprove that hauling the state's crude by rail is dangerously explosive. On Thursday, state officials said those plans had been dropped in the aftermath of the Casselton derailment.

The state's oil production is now pegged at about 1 million barrels daily, and the state's sweet crude is increasingly moving by rail to feed refineries on the East, West and Gulf coasts."

The article is here. 

Another article is here.

This is probably incorrect reporting.

Think they meant to report more Natural gasoline and not natural gas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gasoline

We have got to remember that Enbridge has had Bakken crude banned from its pipelines by regulators already.

Trains magazine had a really good article on the canadian train a couple months ago and went in to a lot of detail on the tanks cars used to transport this crude it was really interesting.   

Previously noted. .........Temperature/pressure is a huge factor in  transportation/rail transportation, of these products, especially the products that are borderline gas/liquid (ethane, propane, butane).      If the crude mixture as it is pump out of the ground is high in these three hydrocarbons the volatility will increase. All three easily exist as a gas v.s. liquid.  The current Shale gas industry developing in South western PA has a processing facility near Washington, PA that with simple mechanical/temperature treatment. (1.) separates methane (gas) to a gas pipe line system.

(2.)Ethane, propane, and ...... are placed, at the present, in pressurized rail cars and shipped, but they also can be piped. Usually piping systems lag behind exploration, IMO, rail transportation appears to more of an interim solution until the pipe systems are complete.   Piping requires large investment in infrastructure, if the product is corrosive as it appears the oil in this thread is, that's an additional concern.  Note that temperature variations in western PA are a bit less intense than in the Dakotas.  Raw product placed in tank cars at low temperature can be interesting as the ambient temperature fluctuate.  Lot of things to consider.     

Vapor pressure of propane versus temperature.

Note that propane is a vapor unless pressurized or cooled below -50 F

There is some news.  Investigators found a wheel with a broken axle on a grain hopper.  Did it cause the derailment, or was it a result of the derailment?  Second thing was the derailment happened near a switch.  Remember what I said earlier about derailments not being all that rare around here because snow clogs the switches and keeps them from closing all the way.  Yes, they most likely have propane heaters on the switches on that line, but when it's 20 below zero there's no guarantee.

Kent in SD

Why are all these trains derailing.  These mainlines are good track with state of the art computer dispatching and signalling.  No excuses.  This will just make the pipeline option look good and the refineries will lose the flexibility of any quantity of oil from any location...rather than a pipeline that is stuck there for the long term.

If a switch doesn't close all the way, for any reason, the signals should remain red so there is no reason for a train the pass over it.  Also, the Class 1's should start installing faster, smoother switches for their CTC sidings.  Some of the switch equipment dates to the 60's.

There seem to have been more oil train derailments than anything lately.

We are an energy hungry society, IMO.  Huge amounts of energy are in transit every day, only the dramatic events make the news.  Some of the events may even get historic notation.  Alaska pipe line was complete in the "70" and a few years later we had the Exxon Valdez incident along the southern Alaskan coast, some say we are still cleaning up that mess.   Recent history saw a huge well blow-out/loss of life/ and loss of equipment in the Gulf of Mexico (Deep Water Horizon).  Still cleaning up there also.   A local issue a few years ago, 3 or 4 rail tank cars of ethanol, part of a unit train, were de-railed into the Beaver River, New Brighton, PA.  An NS train, along the mainline tracks, that eventually go through downtown Pittsburgh, PA.  Note that ethanol does not pipe well/excepted transportation is rail.    Also note the recent catastrophic derailment, (Lac-Megantic train derailment) of a similar crude oil train in Quebec Canada, large loss of life and property.   

A few weeks ago in Drifton, PA three coal cars derailed. Friends new of my interest in trains and a few called. I was there about two hours after it happened. It was a Reading Northern.

On site were the Reading Norther people and other railroad officials. I asked at least ten of them politely what caused it. Everyone said same thing. No comment. The local news arrived and were also told no comment.

Went back the next day and a crew was there from Indiana with heavy equipment. They cleared a new road alongside the track and immediately went to work. I was really amazed how quick they got there and sprang

Very educational comments and as usual, somewhat in depth.

Thanks!!

Like my local redneck girlfriends says :"We gotta have that gasoline, cause we gotta

lotta places to go"!! And, I assume others (like me) have the same philo.

I am somewhat familar with the BNSF line Bismarck-->Fargo, and can attest that this line is very well maintained.  In winter especially it gets daily track inspections too.  I don't think you really understand the kinds of conditions these trains are operating in during winters here.  It's nothing like California!  The forcasted low for Sacramento CA on Monday is +37.  For Casselton ND it's 22 below zero.   That's about 60 degrees colder, and it makes a difference.  The snow we got since Thanksgiving is still blowing around too .

Kent in SD

I think you meant "psychological."  Anyway, part of it is that while there are plenty of derailments of grain trains etc. every day, those don't make the news because they don't explode.  Towns aren't generally evacuated when a load of soybeans tips over.  The other factor is the Law of Probability.  I live near one of the lines that the oil shuttle trains use.  Just a couple of years ago I never saw any at all on the BNSF Marshall Sub.  Now, it seems like they're every third train.  The odds that at least a couple of them are going to have a problem has gone up exponentially.  In fact, two months ago the line got shut down for an afternoon because an oil tanker picked a point at a switch near Lester IA.  Fortunately it was n/b and empty.

I used to not think about this sort of thing much at all.  Now that I understand just how volatile those tankers are, I am a bit concerned.  Twice a week I work in a building in Sioux Center, IA that has oil trains running about 70 yards away, up on a high levee.  For me, the danger is not theoretical.

Kent in SD

Makes perfect sense to me.

First, at that point in the process, it is entirely possible that they did not know what caused the derailment. Secondly, even if they did know, they are not going to tell anyone who does not NEED to know.

Derailments are expensive for a railroad. They are expensive to fix, and they can be even more expensive down the line if lawsuits are filed. In our litigious society, "No comment." is the only response any railroad official would give in answer to this question.

I think many of us would probably be pretty uncomfortable if we knew what the trains passing close to our HOMES/WORK/SCHOOLS. It's only when we see of the various accidents that we start to think about what might be on the trains. But if we start to think a little broader we can see the tankers on the highways near us as well. So my take on it is that we probably have a safer transportation system that we know.

Most government agencies, industries, NGO, have a Public Information Officer.  The PIO is usually the one who gives out any "official" info about the situation.  Also, it prevents the situation of each person giving his or her "idea" of the story, which in the end causes confusion for everybody.

Additional information MSN this morning (Jan 16, 2014)  It's interesting to note that the W&LE trains that originate from the Markwest Facility (Westland, PA), near Houston, PA, Washington County, have buffer cars.  The power is usually head end with remoted controlled pushers.  At either end before coupling to pressurized tank cars, there are empty coal cars as a safety buffer.  IMO, looking at some of the dramatic pictures on this thread one coal car would not be a whole lot of buffer.   Again IMO.   Mike.  

Known hazmat shipment, when feasible, are supposed to be routed around/away from large populations.

Trains derail every day. Its only the ones that blow up that make the news.

Or somebody dies.