(The following story by Aaron Gifford appeared on the Post-Standard website on January 24.)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A freight train derailment in Canastota comes just one week after the Federal Railroad Administration boss touted a series of ongoing safety improvements aimed at preventing such wrecks.
Thirteen cars on a CSX train jumped the tracks at around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday near the western edge of the Madison County village. No injuries were reported. The crash occurred just five miles west of a fiery 28-car derailment March 12 in Oneida.
CSX announced two weeks ago that the Oneida derailment was caused by an undetected break in a rail. Company spokesman Bob Sullivan said Wednesday’s accident the cause of which remains unknown occurred on a piece of track that had been replaced in October and was inspected as recently as Monday.
“Another train went over that piece of track at 5:45 a.m. (Wednesday), and all was fine,” Sullivan said.
The transportation company recently paid $349,265 in fines in connection with safety violations found during a four-day inspection of CSX operations in 23 states in January 2007.
In a Jan. 17 interview with The Post-Standard, FRA Administrator Joseph Boardman said he thinks CSX’s safety program is now exceeding the standards set by the federal government, though he called on the company to do more.
With the improvement in rail materials, safety equipment and devices that can pinpoint problems on tracks that would be undetectable to the human eye, Boardman said freight train accidents these days are more likely to be caused by human error than equipment failure.
Sullivan said that neither fatigue nor human error was a factor in the Canastota accident.
CSX officials said earlier this month that the company has inspected rails in the Oneida area more frequently since last year’s accident. In that incident, four propane tankers exploded, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents and closing the Thruway for several hours.
Wednesday’s derailment drew the attention of both U.S. senators from New York.
Sen. Charles Schumer issued a press release calling it “the latest in a rash of serious accidents with CSX at the helm.” He demanded an immediate investigation and called the recent CXS fines “a slap on the wrist.”
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called the incident “another sign that we are not where we need to be when it comes to the safety of New York’s rail system. In the last year, we have seen a troubling number of derailments in upstate New York.”