(The following story by Rick Brundrett appeared on The State website on October 18.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sweeping new federal legislation will help prevent train wrecks like the 2005 deadly Graniteville crash that killed nine and injured several hundred after a chlorine spill, experts and government officials said Friday.
Under the law signed Thursday by President Bush, major railroads including Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation — South Carolina’s two biggest — will have to install technology that, in emergencies, can automatically stop trains carrying passengers or hazardous materials.
The affected railroads have until the end of 2015 to implement “Positive Train Control” systems and 18 months to submit their plans to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
“It will have a huge impact on safety,” George Gavalla, former head of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety, told The State. “A lot of the most hazardous or serious accidents over the last few years could have been prevented or eliminated with (this).”
That included the Jan. 6, 2005, Graniteville wreck — the deadliest crash of its kind in the United States since 1978, Gavalla said.
The Graniteville crash “had a role in drafting the bill,” said Mary Kerr, spokeswoman for the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Some recommendations, including the train control provisions, were “included as a result of the accident,” she said.
Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., authored the bill.
South Carolina Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint voted against the bill. Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said the senator was opposed to part of the law that earmarked $13 billion mainly for Amtrak passenger service “without taking the necessary steps to move it toward a sustainable private enterprise.”
“It was another typical day in Washington where you marry up a good idea with a bad one,” Bishop said.
DeMint voted against the bill because it contained more than $1 billion for the Washington, D.C., metro rail system, which spokeswoman Ryan Dawkins described as the “largest earmark in history.” DeMint has consistently opposed earmarks.
CSX and other railroads are “still evaluating what parts of their system they will have to install (the positive train controls),” CSX spokesman Garrick Francis said Friday.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said he wasn’t familiar enough with the new law to comment on it, referring questions to an industry trade association.
The law also allows the Federal Railroad Administration to require safety technology on rail lines that move at least 5,000,000 gross tons annually through “dark territory” areas, or areas without electronic warning systems, said FRA spokesman Warren Flatau.
A State newspaper study published in 2006 found that about 1,100 miles, or 55 percent, of the 2,000 miles of track owned by Norfolk Southern and CSX in South Carolina, were in dark territory. Between 2000 and 2006, nearly two-thirds of freight train wrecks in the state occurred in dark territory, according to the analysis.
About 150 small S.C. towns and cities, including Batesburg-Leesville, Cayce, Chapin, Eastover, Irmo and Lexington, were located in areas without electronic warning signals, the newspaper’s study found.
A 42-car Norfolk Southern train was traveling in dark territory early on Jan. 6, 2005, when it slammed into a Norfolk Southern train parked on a side track next to a textile mill in Graniteville, causing deadly chlorine to spew from a ruptured tank car on the moving train.
The spill killed nine people, including the train engineer and six Avondale Mills workers; injured about 250 people; and forced the evacuation of 5,400 from the town. The crew of the parked train forgot to reset a manual switch to the main track, federal investigators said.
Kelly Donley, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads, said Friday that positive train control systems can detect misaligned track switches and automatically stop trains.
Under the new law, Norfolk Southern would have to install this kind of system on its Graniteville line if it continues to haul chlorine or other hazardous materials through the town, Flatau said.
Fears of another possible Graniteville wreck played a part in later protests by Irmo residents over plans by CSX to put a train siding in the center of town.
CSX dropped its plans but moved the proposed site to nearby White Rock, where a group of residents is opposing it.