(The Associated Press distributed the following article on June 28.)
LOS ANGELES — Union Pacific Railroad was not required by federal or state law to warn communities in the path of runaway freight cars that derailed in Commerce, dumping tons of lumber, demolishing homes and injuring 13 people.
The railroad has been fiercely criticized for failing to notify officials in Commerce or Los Angeles County that 31 cars were barreling their way at up to 86 mph. Most of the cars derailed when dispatchers diverted them onto a side track because a passenger train and another freight train were in the path.
Six homes were destroyed or badly damaged and left uninhabitable in the June 20 crash.
“How can they notify their crews on the tracks and not the people in the neighborhood?” asked Javiar Vazquez, whose house was damaged in the crash.
“We did not have the foresight to say, ‘Something is going to happen in Commerce and we should notify them,” said Kathryn Blackwell, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific.
Federal law does not oblige companies to alert local authorities to runaways.
“It is an area principally governed by the railroad companies’ internal control,” said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Union Pacific also lacked a plan to deal with runaway rail cars.
But again, none was required under current federal regulations.
The company is not alone.
“There is no manual for that,” said Preston Claytor, vice president for safety at North American Rail. “The federal regulations say don’t let the cars out of the yard in the first place.”
CSX and other major railroads, including Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, said their own policies require dispatchers to contact special emergency communications officers when a train gets away. Those officers then call local authorities.
California’s Office of Emergency Management Response, which governs disasters such as train derailments, only requires rail companies to report runaway trains that contain hazardous materials. But there is no deadline for doing so.
Union Pacific reported its disaster to the state office 14 minutes after the derailment.
In the wake of the accident, Union Pacific has said it will review its emergency procedures, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has called for the creation of a plan to deal with runaway notifications.