Trains just as safe as pipelines for moving oil, says transportation expert

A transportation expert thinks moving oil by rail is just as safe as using pipelines.

Early Monday morning, a train carrying oil derailed near Guernsey causing the cars to catch fire.

However, Dr. Barry Prentice, a professor in supply chain management and the former Transport Institute director at the University of Manitoba, said accidents like these are fairly rare.

“The number of incidents that occur are really a very small fraction of the total number of traffic that we see,” he told 650 CKOM. “The whole system itself really has a high degree of safety.”

He said the safety procedures for both rail and pipelines are strong. For trains, much care is put into avoiding accidents in high population areas.

“I haven’t actually ever heard of a spill happening in an urban area … The railways are travelling at a much slower speed, and there’s greater precautions,” he explained.

For pipelines, accidents in cities are avoided through placement.

“They tend to go around the urban areas,” he said.

Prentice thinks both approaches work well. However, there are risks to both methods of transportation. Prentice said spilled oil contaminating water and fires in railcars can be dangerous.

Pipelines and rail can both cause these problems, but not in the same ways.

“Pipelines have many fewer incidents, but when they do have an incident, it tends to be much larger …,” he said. “Railways, they do have more frequent (issues), but the spills tend to be much smaller.

“So, in aggregate, it’s probably not a great deal of difference.”