MONTREAL (Reuters) — Canada ought to require stronger tank cars for transporting flammable liquids sooner than the current deadline in 2025, Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said, noting that crude-by-rail shipments are expected to rise in the country.
“We understand that it can’t happen all at once. But we’d like to see it sooner,” Fox said in an interview. “We do have an ongoing concern that flammable liquids be transported in the most robust tank cars.”
Canada and the U.S. have introduced new requirements for transporting flammable liquids, after a 2013 runaway train explosion carrying crude killed 47 in Lac Megantic, Que.
Older cars have been replaced in Canada, but these must be phased out or retrofitted with thicker steel by May 1, 2025, for the transport of flammable liquids.
