Progress Towards Safer Rail Tank Cars Transporting Flammable Liquids: 2024 Report

This 2024 report summarize progress made in upgrading North American rail tank cars transporting Class 3 flammable liquids to the DOT-117 standards. The new DOT-117 standards, finalized in 2015, specify the design characteristics of DOT-117 and DOT-117R (retrofitted) tank cars. These characteristics include a thicker, insulated/thermally protected tank;1 a full height head shield; and top and bottom valve fitting protections.

There is a rolling phase-out schedule of tank cars based on both tank car type and flammable liquid or liquids carried for example, as of May 1, 2023, all DOT-111 tank cars were prohibited from carrying ethanol. As of July 1, 2023, all non-Jacketed CPC-1232 tank cars were prohibited from carrying ethanol.

All tank cars in service in 2023 that were subject to FAST Act rules regarding the transport of Class 3 flammable liquids were compliant with the scheduled phase-out deadlines. Sixty-seven percent of all rail tank cars carrying Class 3 flammable liquids were built to the new DOT-117 specification or modified to meet the DOT-117R (retrofit) specification.

To provide statistically sound estimates of tank car production in the coming year that will meet the DOT-117 specification, a census of rail tank car shops with the ability to produce new DOT-117 tank cars or retrofit existing tank cars to the DOT-117R specification was conducted. It is expected that 5,067 new DOT-117 cars will be produced in 2024, and 1,229 existing tank cars will be retrofitted to the DOT-117R specifications, introducing a total of 6,296 new DOT-117 or DOT-117R tank cars to the North American tank car fleet.