The question posed is "How do we transport crude oil safely by rail?" and with information provided in class and such, it didn't seem as though we did. With talks of the disasters surrounding oil spills from trains derailing and all, it seemed as though there was no good way to move oil by trains.
That being said, after researching the information online about how transportation of crude oil is affected by certain laws and restrictions, it has become apparent that my fears were for the not. According to Time Magazine the US has recently tightened up rules for transporting crude oil by trains even more than previously done by voluntary rules set forth less than a week ago. The Department of Transportation has stated that rails must test the product that will be shipped before transport and handle the product accordingly. Handling the product properly would involve using the proper cars to hold the product without possible damage/corrosion/destruction, and it would also mean maintaining proper speed levels when traveling through certain areas, ie. slower through towns and closer to populated areas while being able to increase speeds while in more open areas away from population. These rules and regulations were enacted because of the recent number of crashes and spills from 2008 and on. During these past couple years there have been at least ten incidents where trains have derailed or spilled their oils which led to major destruction from explosions or larges fires.
(http://nation.time.com/2014/02/25/u-s-tightens-rules-for-transporting-crude-oil-by-train/)
According to the Association of American Railroads, the production of crude oil will see an increase of 60% from 2008 this year (so over a six year period) from a little over 5 million barrels of oil produced per day to a little over 8.5 million barrels produced per day. With that information there need to be strict rules on how it is transported in any way. Another piece of information provided from the Association of American Railroads shows that about 99.998% of all hazardous materials moved every day reach their destination without any spilling, leakage or cause for concern. This stat should provide comfort for those who are concerned with how things are being transported and the potential hazards they may face.
(https://www.aar.org/safety/Pages/crude-by-rail-facts.aspx)
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