(The Associated Press Writer circulated the following story by Devlin Barrett on May 22.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — New York’s two senators said Tuesday that recent train wrecks in upstate New York show Congress must put new teeth into the rail safety agency one called an “old and tired watchdog.”
Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before a Senate Commerce subcommittee, citing the fiery March 12 derailment of a train carrying liquefied propane and other chemicals near Oneida in central New York.
That crash — the fifth derailment involving CSX Corp. in New York since December — highlighted concerns that freight rail companies are not doing enough to protect workers or the public.
One Republican senator cautioned that the long-term safety record is good, but New York’s two Democrats disagreed.
“We’re on the brink of a disaster,” said Schumer. “In our own state of New York we have seen the effects more than any other state.”
The Federal Railroad Administration, which is responsible for rail safety, “has become too much of an old and tired watchdog,” he said.
Schumer urged the committee to consider legislation he is offering that would allow for huge, multimillion-dollar fines against rail companies found to have violated safety rules. The proposal would also provide $100 million in grant money to improve rail safety, particularly at railroad crossings, where a large percentage of train-related fatalities occur.
Accidents at grade crossings, where car traffic passes over railroad tracks, accounted for nearly half of all train-related fatalities between 1995 and 2005.
Clinton said the FRA is “doomed to fail” unless it is given more staff to conduct safety checks on the more than 219,000 miles of railroad track in the country.
The agency, she said, “is understaffed, overextended, and has the capacity to inspect 0.2 percent of railroads.”
For many years, the largest single cause of train fatalities has been trespassers onto railroad property, whether taking a dangerous shortcut or going to the tracks to commit suicide.
Even with such problems, the president of the Association of American Railroads, Edward Hamberger, noted that railroads are still the safest form of transportation in the country.
The top-ranking Republican on the committee, Oregon’s Gordon Smith, said the long-term safety trend is good, despite recent mishaps.
“It’s easy to conclude that the glass is half empty, but there’s another view, that the glass is half-full. 2006 was the safest year on record, so it’s important to note that it’s not all bad,” said Gordon.
While Democrats are calling for massive fines for negligent rail operators, the Bush administration has sought a number of other changes it says will improve safety.
The administration plan would create a wide-ranging risk analysis study — but the results would not be shared with the public, and the data would be specifically barred from use in any lawsuits against the railroad companies.
Regulators also worry that current work rules too often put tired conductors and engineers at the controls, and officials say fatigue is playing a growing role in rail accidents.
Subcommittee chairman Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said that under current rules, train crews can work “up to 400 hours in 30 days. That is simply not safe.”
The recent string of train derailments has intensified FRA’s track inspections. In a review of 1,085 miles of track, the FRA found 78 defects with CSX tracks across New York.
An earlier, more far-reaching review conducted after a Jan. 16 derailment outside Rochester recommended fining CSX for 199 violations in 23 states.