Oil trains that derailed on Sunday and Monday were hauling newer model tank cars

The oil train derailment on Monday in West Virginia, and one Sunday in Canada, were "hauling newer model tank cars, not the older versions widely criticized as prone to puncture," Edward Mcallister reports for Reuters. In July the Department of Transportation proposed a two-year phase-out of older cars, which had been blamed for more oil spilled in 2013 than in the previous 37 years combined and a derailment in Quebec that resulted in 47 deaths. (Associated Press photo by Marcus Constantino: The derailment Monday in )

The 109-car train, which was carrying North Dakota crude oil to a depot in Yorktown, Va., consisted entirely of CPC 1232 models, CSX said late Monday, Mcallister writes. "The CPC 1232 is the newer, supposedly tougher version of the DOT-111 car manufactured before 2011."

Earlier this month DOT "sent a package of new rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, but it will be three months before the rules take effect and even longer before the sturdier tank cars will be built," Curtis Tate reports for McClatchy Newspapers. "If there are no other delays, it will be October at the earliest before the newer cars will go into production. And depending on how much time the department gives the industry, it could be several years before the existing tank car fleet is retired or updated to meet the new requirements."

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2015/02/17/3994397_west-virginia-canada-derailments.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy