(The following article by Aeron Marcott-Plooy was published in the Marshfield (Wisc.) News-Herald)
MARSHFIELD, Wisc. — A train travels through Marshfield and Spencer at least once every 15 minutes.
What’s on them might surprise people.
“Sometimes you can see what’s in the cars if you look really close,” said Kelly Kremsreiter of Spencer, who frequently crosses Canadian National tracks. “But when you sit there at the crossing for five minutes, you start to wonder if there is hazardous material in the tankers.”
Kremsreiter’s concerns are legitimate.
Hazardous materials are frequently hauled through central Wisconsin on the rail line, according to Rodney Kreunen, Wisconsin railroad commissioner.
In 2002, 587,000 carloads of petroleum and chemicals were transported on the Canadian National’s main line through Wisconsin, which passes through our area. “Even though hazmat goes through the area, the rail cars it is transported in make it very safe for transport,” Kreunen said. “So even if there is an accident, there is really just a slim chance that the contents could spill and create problems.”
Kreunen said the construction of rail cars has advanced tremendously in the past 30 years, making the former cars obsolete. For example, the tanker cars are double-walled to prevent punctures. The chassis of the cars are sturdier and less likely to derail, he said.
Jack Burke, spokesman for Canadian National Railroad, said the company does not typically transport specifically hazardous chemicals.
“We carry a full range of things, like automobiles, automobile manufacture goods, chemicals, paper and forest products,” Burke said. “We don’t transport very much coal anymore. But we do move coal into Wisconsin.”
Burke said that the recent drought in western Canada has decreased the trade of grain from Canada into the United States along the northern rail lines. “There is always a concern from people worried about hazardous chemicals,” Burke said. “There are other railroads who have a higher percentage of petroleum products and chemicals being transported. But they really have nothing to worry about.”