Chevron’s refinery in north Burnaby has taken some extra steps to enhance safety on the railcars used to transport oil through the city.
As previously reported in the NOW, 100 per cent of the local refinery’s rail fleet consists of the DOT-111 class of cars that the Transportation Safety Board recommended face tougher safety standards, following the oil car derailment and explosion in Lac Megantic that killed more than 40 people.
According to Chevron, roughly 75 per cent of the rail cars bringing oil to Burnaby include “head shields,” which cover the bottom half of the cars to protect the containers from breaking open in the event of a crash or derailment. That 75 per cent of the fleet also has protection for the valves on top of the tank cars and steel tanks, which Chevron maintains are stronger in cold temperatures and less prone to cracking.
DOT-111 is a class of rail cars commonly used to transport dangerous or flammable goods. Following the Lac Megantic tragedy, the Transportation Safety Board recommended that Transport Canada adopt tougher safety standards for all DOT-111 cars, not just new ones.
Chevron refines oil from Alberta’s tar sands and receives most of its crude from the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Chevron started bringing in oil shipments by rail last year, because demand on the pipeline was too high, and the refinery was not able to receive enough crude to run at full capacity. Some of the oil arriving by rail goes to Chevron’s off-loading station close to the refinery in north Burnaby, while other shipments go to Langley, where the oil is transferred to trucks and delivered to the refinery. Chevron can receive up to 14 rail cars a day at the off-loading facility, which includes underground containment tanks for spill protection.
