(The following article by Patrick Flanigan was posted on the Democrat and Chronicle website on January 18.)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — East Rochester Police, village officials and CSX officials plan to meet this morning to discuss Tuesday night’s train derailment in East Rochester.
A timeline for reopening S. Lincoln Road will be among the items discussed at the morning meeting, according to East Rochester officials.
But the investigation of the derailment will likely take at least two months, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said Wednesday.
“You should be thinking in terms of months, as opposed to weeks,” said Steven Kulm, who said three federal railroad inspectors were sent to Rochester to investigate the accident.
A westbound CSX freight train left the tracks at the Lincoln Road overpass about 7 p.m., sending about a dozen rail cars onto the street and residential yards below. There were no injuries.
The overpass was declared structurally sound by Wednesday morning, and train traffic on the northside tracks resumed by 10 a.m. The south-side tracks were damaged during the accident, and crews hoped to have them repaired by today, said CSX spokesman Maurice O’Connell.
The derailment has raised new questions about the condition of rail lines in western New York.
Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, Steuben County, issued a statement Wednesday asking Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Broadman and the ranking Republican on the House Railroad Subcommittee to look into the region’s rail safety in light of the East Rochester derailment.
“I’ve called on our federal government to carefully investigate this incident to make sure that it doesn’t affect rail traffic and safety in the area again,” said Kuhl, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The congressman said he wants the FRA to bring an automated rail-inspection vehicle to western New York to identify potential problems.
Kuhl’s appeal for additional oversight came just a few days after the FRA agreed to a congressman’s demand that the agency inspect railroad overpasses in Erie and Chautauqua counties. Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, called for the inquiry after two trains derailed Dec. 10 and 11 in the Buffalo area.
In his letter to the FRA, Higgins said there had been 18 derailments in Erie County since January 2005.
“This record is unacceptable,” he wrote. “Western New Yorkers look at this pattern of insufficient care and rightly question whether those responsible for protecting their safety are sufficiently rigorous in ensuring proper track management and upkeep is taking place.”
O’Connell said CSX welcomes the investigations: “Safety is our No. 1 priority. Our safety record is improving because we see these investigations as a learning process.”
According to an online database maintained by the FRA, defective tracks have been the top reason for all U.S. train derailments since 1996, and the trend was repeated in New York and Monroe County.
The most well-known local derailment happened in December 2001, when a CSX train left the track near the Charlotte pier and erupted into flames, causing several million dollars in damage. Investigators determined that derailment was caused by a conductor who neglected to engage the air brake.
The most common specific reason for derailments is defective or missing railroad ties, which leads to a “wide gauge” between the metal rails.
Nationally, 9.5 percent of derailments in the past 10 years were linked to missing or defective ties. In New York, the number was about the same at 9.2 percent. In Monroe County, two of the seven track-caused derailments were caused by missing or defective ties, while each of the others had unique reasons.
O’Connell said the section of track involved in the East Rochester derailment was visually inspected by a CSX crew Tuesday as part of twice-weekly inspections. Also, the rails were checked for internal defects with an industry version of an X-ray on Nov. 27, as is required every 62 days. O’Connell said the ties along that section of track had been replaced in the last year.
That said, the rail company isn’t prepared to say the tracks didn’t play a role in the accident.
“We’re not ruling anything out at this point,” O’Connell said.