Protective Direction 38- Rail Tank Cars

The Minister of Transport, in accordance with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992, issued Protective Direction (PD) 38 on July 13, 2016.

This Protective Direction further accelerates the phase-out of both jacketed and unjacketed legacy DOT-111 tank cars from being used for crude oil service in Canada as of November 1, 2016.

DOT-111 tank cars were involved in the July 2013 train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in which a number of people were killed and most of the town destroyed.

DOT-111 tank cars are still being used in crude oil service. They are the least crash resistant rail cars. They are being replaced by TC-117. Below is a graphic from Transport Canada of the enhanced safety features of the TC-117 car.