of a train carrying ethanol killed a local resident and sparked investigations into this type of tank car. In 2015, a set of 107 train cars carrying crude oil derailed in Mount Carbon, W.Va., ...

Flammable crude oil and ethanol are both shipped in old-style train tank cars that have often punctured in derailments, leading to explosions, fires, deaths, injuries and environmental damage.

The same tank cars figured in the worst rail disaster in modern history when 47 people were killed after a crude oil train derailed in the small Canadian town of Lac Megantic in 2013. DOT-111 tank ...