(The following story by Mike Sprague appeared on the San Gabriel Valley Tribune website on August 10.)
NORWALK, Calif. — Two area congressional representatives clashed Thursday with a federal administrator over allowing the states more authority over railroads.
Reps. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, and Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood, called for a change in the law during an afternoon hearing at Norwalk City Hall of the the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee.
“The state should be allowed to regulate railroads industry to protect against local hazards,” Napolitano said.
The hearing was held as Congress is considering a comprehensive rail safety bill that will require the Secretary of Transportation to develop a long-term strategy for improving safety, strengthen worker training and require new safety technologies.
However, Napolitano, a member of the Transportation Committee, was unsuccessful in providing the states more authority. The bill is expected to be heard by the House of Representatives in September.
Napolitano asked for the hearing because of increasing train traffic and in light of five accidents from October 2004 to May 2005.
Clifford Eby, deputy administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, told Napolitano and then Sanchez that the current system of regulation works well.
Where there are no federal regulations, the state has authority, Eby said. States also can work with the U.S. government to develop regulations, he added.
But the federal standards provide consistency, he said.
Sanchez objected to Eby’s use of the term, “balkanization,” as to what could happen if each state could regulate railroad safety.
Eby said if each state could regulate railroad safety, it would be like if one area allowed trucks in left lanes, another didn’t allow them at all another allowed all four lanes for trucks.
Sanchez said she understood that each state imposing its own regulations could be a burden to interstate commerce.
But now only a minimum standard is imposed, she said.
“We have a consistent standard, but it’s not a high standard or the best standard,” she said.
Railroad officials also testified in support of the current system of regulation.
“Having a standard regulation is vitally important,” said Chris Roberts, regional vice president for BNSF Railway.
“(Otherwise) we’d have a patchwork of rules and regulations to train our employees,” Roberts said. “It would become very difficult.”
Richard Clark, director of consumer protection and safety division for the California Public Utilities Commission, said the state needs more authority.
In 1997, the commission issued safety rules, but since then the railroad has fought them in court, Clark said.
“All the while, the railroads have been implementing – albeit frequently after catastrophic events – the very rules we attempted to put in place 10 years ago.”