(The following story by Tom Seymour appeared on Louisville television station WHAS-11’s website on February 3. Tommy Mayne is Chairman of the BLET’s Kentucky State Legislative Board. Registration is required to view a video of the story at: http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/WHAS11_TOP_DeathRidesTheRails.718eba8f.html .)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — “I wonder how long it will be before it happens here,” says West End resident Fred Withers. “If one car exploded and caused a chain reaction, it would take out the whole West End.”
From one end of Louisville to the other; from the busy rail line — just a stone’s throw from Ed Diego’s Jeffersontown home — to the rail yard within sight of Fred Withers old front porch off Algonquin Parkway…
“This track is used 24-7, 365 days, they don’t take off for holidays,” Withers says.
…there’s new concern over what’s riding the rails, especially after a crash and leak that killed nine people last month in South Carolina.
Withers knows that feeling. He remembers well a 1996 derailment and leak in Louisville. “Wouldn’t let us in, wouldn’t let us out,” he says.
And today, in that very same area, it’s not hard to find tank cars marked with the names of chemicals like butadiene, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid and molten sulfur.
“It’s a significant concern for us,” says Tommy Mayne, an engineer who has been driving trains for 31 years. “As long as you’re going to have railroads, you’re going to have accidents.”
Mayne and his union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, say more should be done to prevent accidents.
“We’ve brought our concern to rail management and they’ve ignored a lot of ‘em,” says Mayne.
One of the union concerns: fewer workers doing more work.
“A fatigued workforce and a hazardous material is just a recipe for disaster,” Mayne says. It’s believed human error played a role in the South Carolina crash.
Then there’s the issue of trains run by remote control, a practice used in Louisville’s west end.
“They’ve only got two people on the ground and no one on the engine trying to do the work of three people and keep it safe. And safety is being compromised,” says Mayne. “Anytime we see something like that we think, ‘Gosh could it happen in our community?’”
For its part, Louisville is getting better prepared. That’s the word from Chief Gary Yurt, one of the coordinators of a new Metro haz-mat team.
“When a train derailment happens, it takes a lot of logistical functions to get it resolved, and this team will really benefit the citizens of our community,” says Yurt.
We asked two railroads to talk to us on camera about their safety records and training. Neither would.
And consider this: The engineer’s union says each year, railroads carry about 90,000 shipments of chlorine, the chemical that killed in South Carolina.
And according to one study, a similar leak in a more populated area, like Louisville, could kill tens of thousands of people in less than 30 minutes.