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Mapping Minnesota’s 15 most dangerous rail crossings

Bill Gardner, director of MnDOT’s Freight Planning Office, right, and MnDOT Rail Planner Dave Christianson give the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee an overview on rail safety in Minnesota Jan. 21. Photo by Paul Battaglia
Bill Gardner, director of MnDOT’s Freight Planning Office, right, and MnDOT Rail Planner Dave Christianson give the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee an overview on rail safety in Minnesota Jan. 21. Photo by Paul Battaglia

North Dakota's oil boom could mean hidden costs for Minnesota’s rail safety. 

For Minnesota, one of the looming consequences is increased pressure to spend money on rail-crossing improvements – including $243 million in the near term, if the Legislature adopts the top-line recommendations of the Department of Transportation.

This week MnDOT officials visited the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee to present the findings of their December 2014 study on rail safety along the three lines where oil from North Dakota’s Bakken fields crosses Minnesota on a daily basis.

House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee

Those three routes represent 700 miles of Minnesota rail tracks and 683 crossings where roadways and railways intersect. This map presents the 15 highest-risk rail crossings identified in the report. (The criteria used in those evaluations included total volume of roadway traffic as well as of heavy commercial vehicle.)

In each of the 15 locations, the agency is recommending “grade changes” – the construction of bridges to route traffic over the railway and thereby prevent potential collisions. Though some units of government have cash on hand to facilitate that work, MnDOT is estimating that the 15 projects (all of which lie on Burlington Northern-Santa Fe or Canadian Pacific rail lines) would cost the state an additional $243 million.

The 15 recommended grade-change projects are among 102 crossings where MnDOT is recommending some action to improve safety.

Transporting flammable material by rail poses inherent risks, but the report emphasizes that the North Dakota oil shipments are especially dangerous owing to the chemical composition of the crude oil extracted there.

The report notes:

 “The volatility of Bakken crude oil is the subject of debate, but it has consistently been shown to be more prone to vaporization and ignition compared to other, heavier crude oil. Bakken crude has… an average flash point of 73 degrees Fahrenheit, the point where natural atmospheric vaporization creates an ignitable air/fuel mix at the surface of the liquid….

“[T]he Federal Rail Administration, in conjunction with the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, issued emergency orders… [that] mandate that Bakken crude oil be classified under the most dangerous and highly controlled category of flammable liquids.”

The Department of Transportation study was prompted by a pair of high-profile train derailments and fires involving Bakken crude. In July 2013, a crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada, killed 47 people. Another derailment in December 2013 near Casselton, N.D. spawned a massive fire in which no one was injured.


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