LNG; New Traffic?

January '20 TRAINS has a News item regarding relaxation of USDOT rules regarding handling of Liquified Natural Gas.

I must say it's funny how LNG can be handled by highway carriers, trucks if you will, but by rail as the TRAINS report notes, "only in a portable tank with approval by the FRA".

I don't know to what extent, with the removal of the existing restriction noted above, LNG shipped in DOT 113 cars could represent a meaningful traffic source for the rairoads. Perhaps all movements from source to end users/maritime ports are covered by existing pipelines, but then, I need enlightenment.

Thoughts, anyone?

It could be huge for New England railroads. As NY continues to resist pipeline construction or enlargement.

Looks like it is going to happen from the Pennsylvania fields to a port in New Jersey. https://www.inquirer.com/business/feder ... 91209.html

It appears in the waning days of the Trump First Term, a wave of new Federal Regulations are being proposed; no doubt in part to "ruffle" a successor should this prove to be the Final Term:

https://nyti.ms/3lSEfAv

.Mr. Trump has played a direct role in pushing to accelerate some regulations. Among them is a provision finished this summer, nicknamed “bomb trains” by its critics, that allows railroads to move highly flammable loads of liquefied natural gas on freight trains. Mr. Trump signed an executive order last year directing the Transportation Department to enact the rule within 13 months — even before it had been formally proposed.

I think we know that the President has broad power to impose regulations; those relating to transportation are within Title 49 of the Code.

So again my question; same as when I opened this topic. Does transporting LNG by rail represent a source of new traffic that can be handled safely, or will the industry be looking at a Weyauwega or Megantic with the potential of severely injuring the road (including bankruptcies and dissolution that arose from both those noted incidents) on such where it occurs?

Trains had an article on this in the September issue. It stated that there are presently only 62 tank cars designed and available for this purpose.