Jersey City Meeting on oil train danger

Here is a link to an article about a meeting to be held "to discuss ways to reduce of the risk of train cars carrying oil catching fire or exploding.". http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2015 ... ar_sa.html

The article claims that "dozens of trains pass through the city carrying crude oil each month". I'm wondering if this is true. I also suspect that the trains passing through Jersey City are traveling at much lower speed and therefore have a much lower chance of rupturing the tanks than the other derailments and fires which have caught public attention.

Yes they surely have oil trains, along with oil barges, chemical plants with dangerous chemicals shipped by rail and truck, oil trucks, etc. And what they are missing are all the manufacturing jobs they used to have but scared off through high taxes.

I, for one, believe this will be a level-headed and even-toned meeting, totally devoid of television-evening-news-oriented soundbites, notable for a complete lack of demagoguery and suburban-mom-targeted scare tactics. A feeling of overwhelming bipartisanship, caused by a desire not for reelection but for a sincere desire to do what is right, will warm the bellies of even the coldest-hearted in attendence.

The most intelligent solution, offered by those with knowledge of the situation instead of those who identify with the "D" position on all things or those who subscribe to the "R" position come hell or high water, will be quickly reached by a group of qualified men and women of diverse industrial, commercial, and social backgrounds. These people will hold an intelligent debate wherein no one interupts, compares another to Hitler, uses the word "socialist"' and from which all people who claim to be libertarians but have trouble practicing what they preach are banned.

No one will reference either the present President, the upcoming 2016 election, or the most recent past President. Neither will any of the previously mentioned be blamed for a lack of investment in infrastructure, will have thier faith or citizenship questioned, or be assigned blame for the economic collapse of years past.

The media will cover the event in a reasonable manner, with no graphics displaying "Death on the Rails" or nails-on-a-chalkboard sound effects preceding the report.

Oh, and give me $50 on the Jets in the Superbowl...

I was with you until the last line.
Jim S

Interesting speculation on the meeting but can anyone tell me the speed of rail traffic through the area and the volume of oil train traffic? If the speed is low enough it's unlikely that any derailment would cause a breach of an oil tank car.

CLamb wrote:Interesting speculation on the meeting but can anyone tell me the speed of rail traffic through the area and the volume of oil train traffic? If the speed is low enough it's unlikely that any derailment would cause a breach of an oil tank car.

At one point I heard there were up to 3 or 4 CSX trains daily coming down from Selkirk, through Jersey City, then out the Conrail Lehigh Line and then from Manville on the CSX Trenton line to the Philadelphia area (and/or South Jersey) refineries . Many of the empties were going back through Maryland and then up and over the Sand Patch grade back up to the Pittsburgh area on their way west, to keep capacity on the low-grade River line from Selkirk for loaded trains. This might all be scaled back now with the recent low price of foreign oil to come in by water, however. In any case I saw by chance one loaded inbound train on Saturday.
Oil on NS runs the other direction, coming in from the west through Manville and running to the Bayway area, and to the best of my knowledge does not reach Jersey City.
Can't help on speeds. Maybe someone has a timetable...
Jim S

pumpers wrote:

CLamb wrote:Interesting speculation on the meeting but can anyone tell me the speed of rail traffic through the area and the volume of oil train traffic? If the speed is low enough it's unlikely that any derailment would cause a breach of an oil tank car.

At one point I heard there were up to 3 or 4 CSX trains daily coming down from Selkirk, through Jersey City, then out the Conrail Lehigh Line and then from Manville on the CSX Trenton line to the Philadelphia area (and/or South Jersey) refineries . Many of the empties were going back through Maryland and then up and over the Sand Patch grade back up to the Pittsburgh area on their way west, to keep capacity on the low-grade River line from Selkirk for loaded trains. This might all be scaled back now with the recent low price of foreign oil to come in by water, however. In any case I saw by chance one loaded inbound train on Saturday.
Oil on NS runs the other direction, coming in from the west through Manville and running to the Bayway area, and to the best of my knowledge does not reach Jersey City.
Can't help on speeds. Maybe someone has a timetable...
Jim S

CSX is still running a lot of the empties thru MD and the Sand Patch. I caught one today that had a BNSF and Citirail unit.