(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Frederic J. Frommer on July 21.)
WASHINGTON — The Mayo Clinic stepped up its attack on the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Thursday, claiming the DM&E had the least safe record of any major railroad in the country and that the company’s proposed expansion would jeopardize patient safety at the clinic.
While disputing that, DM&E’s president acknowledged safety problems but said that the railroad’s plan for expansion would improve safety by upgrading the tracks that run through downtown Rochester, Minn., where the clinic is based.
At a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, the clinic unveiled a report it sent to the Federal Railroad Administration on Thursday cataloging what it called DM&E’s poor safety record. The FRA is considering a $2.5 billion government loan application that DM&E needs to move forward on the expansion.
Stephen M. Ryan, a Washington lawyer retained by the Mayo Clinic, said that the railroad had “undoubtedly the worst safety record of any major railroad in America.”
The clinic cited, among other statistics, the FRA’s 2004 Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report, which listed DM&E with the highest rate of accidents per 1 million train miles of railroads surveyed.
The clinic also pulled out a quote from DM&E President Kevin Schieffer, in which he told employees in a newsletter last year, “We have a very poor safety record.”
On a conference call after the news conference, Schieffer confirmed making that statement, but said the poor safety record was due to the bad condition of the old track that the company inherited when it took over an old rail line.
“We have not had a good safety record in the past compared to railroads with good infrastructure,” he said. “It’s easy to run on new rail. It’s a huge challenge to run on 80-year-old rail.”
As to Mayo’s claim that the railroad is the least safe in the country, Schieffer said, “I would say that is a flat misstatement of the record.”
He said the railroad has already made important strides in safety, cutting down on accidents since 2004 even as it increased traffic. Schieffer said the railroad has been able to rebuild some of its worn out track with the help of a $230 million FRA loan in 2003.
Schieffer said that safety would improve markedly in Rochester with the $2.5 billion loan, because it would allow the company to upgrade its track there.
“Mayo Clinic is trying to stand in the way of that,” he said.
Mayo officials said they were concerned that the increased flow of trains through Rochester, at higher speeds, would increase the risk of a spill. That would lead to an “unprecedented situation,” said Glenn Forbes, the clinic’s CEO.
And Ryan argued that the railroad had a “cultural problem” that money wouldn’t solve.
“Having good track is not necessarily the answer,” he said. “…It’s hard to change an organization.”
Schieffer used similar terminology but came to a different conclusion.
“There is a culture change that we need to go through,” he said. “…For 16-17 years of our existence, we flat have not had the resources” to fix all the problems. “Now, we’ve got tools to work with.”
Schieffer tried to portray the Mayo Clinic as a bully.
“We are not looking for a fight with the Mayo Clinic,” he said. “We know how big they are … But we’re in no position to back down from one either.”
Several lawmakers weighed in on the rail project Thursday. Sen. Mark Dayton, appearing at the news conference, said it should be a no-brainer for DM&E to build a bypass around Rochester.
“I continue to be amazed that it’s even a matter of dispute,” he said at the news conference. DM&E has called a bypass not viable.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and fiscal hawk, called the loan an “inappropriate use of federal dollars” in a House floor speech. He urged lawmakers to contact Transportation Department officials to “put the brakes on this runaway locomotive.”
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., also spoke out against the project.
The DM&E, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., wants to add track to the Powder River Basin coal fields in Wyoming and upgrade its existing line in South Dakota and Minnesota. The project would involve building about 280 miles of new track and upgrading 600 miles of existing track.