U.S. urges rail tank car owners, shippers to use best available cars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) on Wednesday urged rail tank car owners and hazmat shippers of flammable liquids to stop using tank cars like some in a Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and replace them with newer, safer tank cars.

USDOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said the Ohio incident demonstrated “DOT-111” and “CPC-1232” tank cars do not perform at the highest level of survivability during derailments and urged owners to use “DOT-117” cars.

The advisory cited preliminary data from the National Transportation Safety Board investigation that found significant issues in DOT-111 tank cars in the Ohio derailment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)