Companies facing safety issues in hazardous material transport through trains
2005- A train carrying chlorine used for purifying water in cities crashed in Graniteville, S.C., releasing a poisonous cloud over the town and killing 9 people and injuring hundreds of others.
2008- There were about 21 train accidents where some hazardous material was released injuring many.
2009- Just 50 miles from a Chicago suburb, a derailed freight train car carrying ethanol burst into flames killing a motorist who tried to flee.
Barrington Mayor Karen Darch saw her worst fears realized and said, “This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been afraid of. Any community could find themselves in that situation.”
The most scary issue to be faced by the Government is the handling of safety measures in order to prevent derailment disasters of hazardous cargo shipments along the 140,000-mile U.S. rail network. There is also the danger of terrorists finding these chemical-laden tankers as easy targets.
This has led the Government to issue new federal regulations requiring that companies reroute trains hauling the most toxic materials away from big cities. Those rules apply to substances that can vaporize, like chlorine. Some other new federal rules that have been partially implemented require that new tankers be better fortified to lessen chances of spills or explosions. However, given the current recessionary times, it is a remote possibility that the railways buy many new tankers.
Says U.S. Rep. Edward Markey in support of the rerouting rules that the tankers amount to “hell on wheels rolling through our communities. In a catastrophic event, the Massachusetts Democrat said, tankers contain enough chlorine to kill 100,000 people in 30 minutes.”
However, since trains are the safest way to move hazardous material, there is a federal mandate dating back at least 100 years requiring railroads carry such cargo, whether they like it or not. Now, this is an extra burden for the rail companies as a major accident could bankrupt them and companies are demanding that the laws are either canceled or eased.
“Isn’t it a little unfair to both require railroads to carry this stuff, and then say they are fully liable?” Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, the industry trade group, asked.
On the issue of re-routing White commented, “Rerouting can also substantially increase the distance a material travels and the amount of handling it requires. That in itself can increase the safety risk.”
Among 27 criteria railways are required to consider as they draw up rerouting plans is whether tankers pass by landmarks terrorists might want to hit. Some rail companies already are steering more trains onto lines that cut through villages, towns and suburbs to bypass chronic train-track congestion in Chicago, the nation’s premier rail hub.
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