LANSING, Mich. — Life is back to normal and trains are back on schedule in Potterville, Mich., where a Memorial Day derailment forced 2,200 people to evacuate their homes for five days, the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal reports.
But the neighbors still talk about the accident, and whether their little town, where train whistles blow throughout the day, is really safe.
The number of train derailments nationally has jumped 26 percent since 1997, according to railroad statistics. And the amount of freight hauled over that period grew about 10 percent.
Other trains ran off the tracks in Colfax, Calif., in May. And in Runnels, Iowa and Kanapolis, N.C.
The railroad industry takes a longer view, pointing out that since the 1970s the overall number of accidents, most of which are derailments, is down significantly – 73 percent.
But railroad unions say in recent years cost-conscious railroads have slashed the number of maintenance workers checking the safety of the tracks while at the same time moving longer and heavier freight trains that put more stress on tracks.
“The railroads are changing the way they maintain track,” said Spencer Morrissey, a Nebraska track inspector for Burlington Northern since 1975.
“They’re increasing the tonnage, pushing the physical plant to the limit and cutting workers,” he said. “It’s an ongoing experiment to see how much they can get out of their facilities.”
The Federal Railroad Administration, which oversees the train industry, said the industry achieved a number of safety records last year, including reporting the fewest number of employee deaths, 22, and injuries, 7,575.
“Over the last two decades, the number and rate of train accidents, total deaths arising from rail operations, employee fatalities and injuries, and hazardous materials releases and deaths related to those releases all fell dramatically,” railroad Administrator David Rutter told a House transportation hearing in June.
From the backyard swingset in Potterville where 7-year-old Ryanne Deo and 9-year-old Connor Deo play, the pop of expanding sun-baked railroad tracks disturbs their summer playtime daily.
Their family wasn’t home when 35 train cars derailed just behind their house in May. Now that the smell of leaked propane and rotting venison has dissipated, their only worries are which toy to play with and when the next accident will be.
“My kids have always screamed and covered their heads,” said Richelle Deo, Ryanne and Connor’s mom. “But they run. They’re a little more scared.”
Railroad officials say the Potterville derailment might have been caused by a fracturing of the steel track.
A visual inspection by the railroad administration three days before the derailment didn’t show the cracked rail that caused the accident. The yearly inspection didn’t yield any problems.
“We’ve always talked about being here for the long haul, but are we really safe here next to the tracks?” Deo said. “You wonder how well the inspection was really done.”
The Deos didn’t seek reimbursement for the days of work they lost or the food that spoiled, and haven’t decided whether to join a lawsuit against Canadian National.
“You don’t think of reimbursement or money – you think of whether your house is still there,” Deo said.
That lawsuit decision, Deo said, will depend on whether the house their neighbor listed for sale after the accident sells. The stigma of unsafe tracks is attached to their town, and even the fence and vines that hide the view of the trains won’t hide that, she said.
The question of rail safety is getting extra attention now that the government is proposing to transport 77,000 tons of spent radioactive fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants to Yucca Mountain, Nev. A Senate vote on the plan is expected this month.
The Energy Department’s preference is to carry most of the waste by train in steel and alloy casks designed to withstand most accidents without releasing radiation. But these nuclear-waste casks would be some of the heaviest loads carried on rail cars and could add further stress to an aging railroad infrastructure.
Already this year:
Investigators suspect track defects are to blame for an Amtrak derailment in Crescent City, Fla., that killed four passengers.
A Minot, N.D., man died from breathing a toxic cloud of ammonia released after a train carrying fertilizer derailed, possibly because of a track failure.
The National Transportation Safety Board – which is responsible for investigating plane, train and ship accidents – is concerned about the increase in derailments, from 1,741 in 1997 to 2,200 last year. Almost half of the derailments have been attributed to track problems, and the safety board has recommended that the railroad administration increase track inspections.
“We take this very seriously,” said Tom White, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads. “We expect that we will bring those numbers back down.”
But he noted the industry has become vastly safer since the late 1970s, when there were nearly 11,000 accidents a year.
In 1990, large railroad companies spent $6.9 billion to maintain and upgrade 119,758 miles of track, compared with more than $9.5 billion on 99,250 track miles in 2000, White said.
But there are some trends that are worrisome for the industry.
Since railroad deregulation began in 1980, the industry has undergone a massive consolidation that culminated in the creation of four huge railroads: CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific Santa Fe and Burlington Northern.
During the same period, railroads have slashed rates for carrying autos, grain and coal to compete with each other and with the trucking industry, said Peter Swan, a Pennsylvania State University business professor who specializes in the railroad industry.
That has led railroads to cut costs by reducing maintenance crew sizes, he said. At the same time, the industry has started to shift from 131-ton cars to 143-ton cars, which put more stress on the track, Swan said. One possible culprit for track accidents could be joint bars, which hold the rail pieces together and are old and difficult to inspect, he said.
FRA statistics show more derailments being caused over the past five years by tracks shifting out of alignment, tracks buckling due to temperature changes, switch equipment failing or the steel track cracking.
Derailments caused by track fissuring have tripled over the past five years to 78, and is likely the cause of the fatal Amtrak train crash last year in Nodaway, Iowa.
Rutter of the FRA said possible reasons for the increase in track-related accidents are: reduced spending on infrastructure, reduced maintenance staffs, increased traffic, heavier loads or insufficient monitoring of track inspectors.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, which represents workers who inspect and repair the tracks, says the main culprit is the railroads substantially cutting back on maintenance workers to save money. Its solution is to require the railroads to hire back some of those employees.