Day 16: June 24, 2013

Today, I worked on the task that Xiang assigned me. After finishing the excel file with all the data and calculations that he required, I prepared some graphs to facilitate the understanding of the results. Then we both discussed them and we agreed that they were reasonable. He may perform a further analysis but for now he doesn't need my help any more. 

On the afternoon, I started to research about transportation of crude oil by rail. This topic is of special interest as crude oil has just become the most transported hazardous material by rail (measure in ton mile). I'm still trying to understand the reasons behind this growth. However, I found that one of them it is the enormous increase in crude oil production in North Dakota. This increasing amount of crude oil cannot be transported exclusively by pipelines, which are at their maximum capacity, so it is being transported by rail. FIG6 shows the estimated crude oil exported from North Dakota by rail. As it can be observed its growth has been incredible. Tomorrow, I will continue analyzing this phenomenon and I will try to determine the most important pairs of origin-destination of crude oil transportation.

FIG6: Estimated North Dakota Rail Export Volumes.

Today:

-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail           (to be finished)
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation                               (to be finished)
-Gather and edit information Xiang requires for his research                         (done)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                 (to be finished)

Next day:
-Understand the reasons for the rise of crude oil transportation by rail
-Find key origins and destinations of this transportation
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation

-Attend the weekly RailTEC meeting