Due to deteriorating infrastructure, 2014 was the most dangerous year for Canadian railroads, with derailments increasing by 73% from the year prior, according to Reuters.
These derailments can result in a high number of fatalities, with one incident of an errant oil-train causing 47 deaths in the town of Lac-Megantic,
As a result, officials are looking into safety precautions of Canadian oil-trains, particularly when it comes to flammability. While Canada is known for unearthing “viscous bitumen,” a relatively stable substance, Reuters repots that this is often mixed with condensate, which can be explosive.
Two recent derailments in Northern Ontario resulted in a fiery disaster, bringing attention to “light ends,” which are extremely flammable. While researchers know that light ends can quickly ignite, they are unsure for how long they will burn.
Complications arise, however, because the presence of lights ends is dependent upon the type and amount of condensate used to blend with the crude. Synthetic crude is also hard to measure, as it often has an entirely different makeup than crude oil.
Finally, there is no sophisticated testing to evaluate the flammability of “mixed cargoes,” since the United Nations originally focused classification on simpler materials such as ethanol. Scientists are currently working to develop better methods, though.
"Ultimately the specific properties of crude oil and types of crude oil will become much more important as it relates to how material is transported," Andre Lemieux, secretary of the Canadian Crude Quality Testing Association (CCQTA), told Reuters. "But it will take a while."
