High Hazard Flammable Trains

DOT NPRM helps bump up freight car builder stocks

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on DOT 111 tank cars for crude oil and HHFTs (High-Hazard Flammable Trains), specifically the NPRM’s proposal for phasing out older, pre-CPC-1232 tank cars, could worsen the crude oil tank car shortage, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 13, 2014. Following the WSJ’s report, the stock prices of three tank car builders—Trinity, The Greenbrier Companies, and American Railcar Industries—increased by nearly 3% each.

DOT crude oil NPRM: Will cooler heads prevail?

A recent call-in forum on crude by rail conducted by Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Contributing Editor Jason H. Seidl “helped affirm our view that the final version of the DOT’s safety rules may include some changes to the ones proposed on July 23.”