Oil Tank Rail Cars. Where Do They Go?
I live in St. Paul, MN. There's a very large rail yard just outside of the downtown area of the city. It's also immediately adjacent to the Mississippi river. These days, it's full of tank cars and they're full of crude oil, much of it from North Dakota and Canada. On some days, the entire yard appears to be made up of those tank cars. BNSF is the major transporter.
So, where are they going? They're going south. Some will make it all the way to Texas, where that oil will be loaded into ships for transport to refineries outside of the U.S. Some of it will be refined in the U.S. Guess where the rail lines are that that oil will be transported on. Why, right next to the Mississippi River as it makes its way from St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico.
Other trains of rail cars are headed to other places, mostly in major cities, where major rail yards are most often also next to a river. As they travel, those trains will pass through cities and towns, almost always right through the heart of the city or town. That's because the railroads serve those communities by transporting all sorts of goods. The railroads go from major city to major city. They're how stuff travels. There are refineries all over the country. There may be one near where you live. And tank cars will deliver oil to those refineries.
Guess where those refineries are? Often, they're right next to a river or the ocean. We have a big refinery not far from St. Paul. It's right on the Mississippi River. The crude oil in those tank cars doesn't go to that refinery. It gets its crude oil through pipelines.
Many of the trains of tank cars are 120-150 cars in length. The oil in those tank car trains adds up to over a million gallons in each train. Each train, and there are many trains moving through St. Paul every day. Sometimes trains derail. Sometimes oil spills. Sometimes it burns. And the trains go through cities and towns, along our major rivers, and through all sorts of countryside.
Pipelines also carry massive quantities of oil from place to place in the United States. They've been built for many years now. It's cheaper to transport oil through pipelines and uses far less energy than transporting it in fragile tank cars on railroad tracks. This country runs on oil. It shouldn't, of course, and we should be developing alternative energy as fast as we can. But for the time being, oil is what fuels our economy.
The oil will move. It will go from where it is produced to refineries. It will go to ports where it gets loaded into tanker ships that will take it other places for refining. The oil will continue to move. The only question, really, is how it will move. It will go in rail cars or it will go in pipelines. But the oil will move. Which method is safer? Which method is more environmentally sound? That's difficult to say. Both methods have risks. Both have had historical disastrous incidents.
I don't know which method of transportation is the better one, all things considered. It may even be a wash. But:
The oil will move, one way or another.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm certified for HAZMAT - IATA, Vessel, DOT, Rail - as I have a homeland security function at my company. It's part of the freight controls.
This is a link:
https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0151
You can also reference the 49 CFR - it's a weighty 'document' - but eventually those rail cars loads have to go onto a truck or ocean vessel for midway or final destination.
There's no guarantee that tomorrow you won't get in your car to run errands and find yourself in a highway accident with a hazmat containing vehicle. None.
Ditto a train derailment in your vicinity. But if the seller has followed the rules - first responders WILL know precisely what to do. I can't imagine a natural disaster causing an oil spill (train derailment) that we could avoid by just keeping the train where it is at - or diverting it.
I can imagine a natural disaster causing a massive leak/spill and ruining more than 2 million human beings' water supply. How do we mitigate that? Do we put a placard up every quarter mile along the pipe line? Every 8th of a mile?
I have to get re-certified every few years and there is a lot of information there. It's class time to stay up to date - but I Hope this helps. You are a true Information Sponge. 
49 CFR gives the highest level overview but then you have to veer off for IATA, Ocean, etc. etc.
Amtrak will continue to work with NS Railway, CSX and other carriers to restore dependable service along these routes.
And those routes are more heavily traveled than the Empire Builder through ND.
edit: The irony is that rail travel uses less of the stuff that's clogging up the rails than driving or flying.
BNSF railroad?
I remember. Warren Buffett. Good friends with the President. Money talks and both sides of the aisle. 
The President will veto the bill. Then Buffett and the Koch brothers will flood Washington with money to override the veto or not. So starts the war chest for 2016.
