West Texas Crude to East Coast Refiners

Thousands of crude oil tank cars are currently in storage but, many of these are the older model DOT 111’s that are being phased out of flammable service.  There are also many upgraded 111’s that were built during the crude by rail boom in 2014.  These CPC-1232 model cars, while more robust than a standard 111, must be upgraded to meet DOT 117 tank car specs or be phased out of flammable service as well.

DOT 117 cars are being built now but, I’m not seeing the kind of backorder status that existed in the tank car market in 2014.  Too; tank car lease rates are still significantly under the level they were in 2014.  This all tells me there is no rush by crude oil producers or marketers to submit large car orders that would facilitate a dramatic increase in crude by rail shipments.

With regard to your routing question; federal regulations pre-empt local or state regulations where interstate commerce is involved.

And; insofar as specific routes oil trains might take from West Texas to an east coast point; only a Class 1 network design person could answer that.  Class 1 railroads all have routing protocols with each other that determine where certain types of traffic may be interchanged.  Interchange points under the protocols take into consideration the direction the traffic is moving as well as volumes.  Since UP would likely be the foremost originator of West Texas crude trains; the answer to the exact route question would likely have to come from Omaha.

Curt

Thanks for the information Curt.  Once I read your details on the DOT 117 cars I struck a memory of seeing some of those details before.

Also thanks for the confirmation on interstate rail traffic authorities.  I had assumed this, but then again sometimes these things don't follow the logic you expect they would.