Time to ‘aggressively phase out’ old, unsafe tank cars carrying oil, says CN

Mr. Buffet will be perfectly happy.

Very Happy. He bought a company that builds rail tank cars.

Warren Buffett Cashes In on Railroad Tank Cars
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-14/2014-outlook-warren-buffett-cashes-in-on-railroad-tank-cars
November 14, 2013

“Time to build a pipeline”

Amen and dittoes. Pipelines can run 24/7 at steady speed, the product being moved can be changed with minimum disruption of operations, once in place it operates for years with regular maintenance and upkeep, probably at far less cost than what would be required for a roadbed and the individual cars, let alone the daily diligence that must be maintained in scheduling and tracking assembled trains and their switching off at given points.

Use of tank cars and moving by rail is SO 1930’s level of technology. The Second World War led to the establishment of the “Big Inch” and “Little Big Inch” pipelines, which greatly expedited the movement of petroleum product from the oilfields to the refineries and on to the port of embarkation, where these products were sent out all over the world to supply our war machine and those of the allies. These pioneer pipelines have long been abandoned, but the lessons and technology survived, and have been key in establishing the safety and reliability of using this means of transport of a messy and sometimes unpredictable class of product.

These pioneer pipelines have long been abandoned

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Not True.

Texas Eastern formed in 1947 with the purchase of two wartime-built pipelines, the Big Inch and the Little Big Inch, from the U.S. government. With numerous improvements and modifications over time, the pipelines are still in use and are a vital part of Spectra Energy. Today, the Texas Eastern Transmission system ranks fourth among the nation’s gas pipelines in system capacity.

http://www.spectraenergy.com/About-Us/History/Texas-Eastern/

I had not realized the Big Inch and Little Big Inch were still in use. This would even further buttresses my contention that the transport by tank cars should be phased out, as the lifetime of a pipeline involved is far greater than that of a common carrier of only limited size, moving at the whim of the train as a whole.

Efficiency wins over egregious clinging to old technology every time it is tried.

Seems like a good industry to invest in as the rails are hot today. Tanker Car manafactures like ACF or Trinity TRN should see the value of their stock grow as any of the companies who supply the oil boom areas. Can you name other companies who would be a good place to invest. Time for everybody to make some money on the Shale oil boom.

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