(The following story by Tom Jackson appeared on the Sandusky Register website on December 21.)
SANDUSKY, Ohio — When a U.S. senator speaks, federal officials listen.
Responding to a request from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the Federal Railroad Administration has agreed to conduct its own investigation of an Oct. 29 Norfolk Southern train derailment at the Venice Road crossing.
But the agency’s deputy administrator, Clifford Eby, says Erie County does not have a particularly bad safety problem with train accidents.
The senator is “pleased that they are going to investigate the derailment,” said Bethany Lesser, Brown’s press secretary.
No one was hurt in the October wreck, although 17 Triple Crown trailers holding toilet paper and paper towels tipped on their sides. The crossing was closed through much of the next day until railroad workers could replace the crossing’s gates and signals, which were knocked over on one side of the crossing.
FRA officials initially said the wreck was not a big deal and that they would not do their own accident probe, relying on the railroad’s report.
As a general rule, the agency doesn’t probe train wrecks unless the accident is particularly serious. Reasons that trigger a probe include when someone is killed or badly injured, the accident involves the passenger service Amtrak, damage exceeds $1 million, the train was carrying nuclear materials or the wreck generated “considerable public interest.”
The agency probes about 100 train accidents a year, sometimes issuing fines if it decides federal rules have been violated.
Brown wrote the railroad agency and asked it to probe the wreck, citing statistics showing an apparent safety problem in Erie County.
Eby wrote back that the agency “shares your concerns” and will investigate.
The accident was caused when an emergency brake unintentionally was applied, although the agency hasn’t figured out why that happened, Eby wrote.
The agency agreed to perform the investigation because Brown asked for it, said FRA spokesman Steven Kulm.
“We try and be responsive to requests from congressional offices,” Kulm said.
Eby wrote that Erie County does not appear to have a serious train safety problem.
The county has had 4.7 accidents a year during a 10-year period, Eby wrote. While only zero accidents are acceptable, some accidents are inevitable given the county’s high train traffic, he wrote. There have been five accidents in 2007, not far above the average and better so far than the eight in 2006, he wrote.
It’s important to distinguish train accidents from train incidents, Eby added. Incidents such as a trespasser walking in front of a moving train cannot be blamed on poor train safety, he wrote.
“As information, there have been five train incidents in Erie County so far in 2007, including one highway grade crossing incident, one minor Amtrak passenger injury, two trespasser fatalities (one Amtrak and one Norfolk Southern), and a fatality to an Amtrak passenger who jumped from a moving train,” Eby wrote.
Kulm said he doesn’t know when his agency’s probe into the October derailment will be completed.
Trains carry a recorder, similar to the so-called “black box” aboard airplanes, that records information on the train’s operations, such as the use of an emergency brake, Kulm said.
“If we haven’t done so already, we will likely go back and look at those tapes,” he said.