Oil Train Details

In the two years from 2011 to 2013, the number of tanker cars carrying crude oil in the United States has increased by 4000 times. Owing to the aging infrastructure of the railroads in this country, this has resulted in numerous derailments of these trains, some of which have been very damaging. Several of the derailments have resulted in explosions and all of them have seen toxic leakage of crude oil, some into waterways. The worst explosive accident was in Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada, where the downtown core of a small town was destroyed and 47 people died. Less severe accidents have occurred in Alabama, Alberta, North Dakota, and Virginia.