(The following story by Gregory Richards appeared on the Virginia Pilot website on August 3.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Freight trains carrying hazardous materials may have to bypass urban centers under a provision in the Homeland Security legislation approved by Congress last week.
The measure calls for railroads to select the safest and most secure routes for moving hazardous substances, especially those that are toxic if inhaled, such as chlorine.
Rural rail lines – with fewer people and businesses around – may see more hazardous traffic.
The legislation addresses a worry that developed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that terrorists might rupture a railcar loaded with poisonous gas in a major city, causing widespread injury and death. The January 2005 collision of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train and a parked locomotive that spilled chlorine gas in Graniteville, S.C., killing nine and injuring hundreds, added to the fears.
The District of Columbia subsequently passed a law prohibiting such shipments through the capital. About a half dozen other U.S. cities have considered similar measures. A federal judge’s ruling on the legality of the district ban is pending.
Should President Bush sign the legislation, as he is expected to, it may not affect train routes until next year.
The U.S. Department of Transportation would have up to nine months to implement the legislation, and then the railroads would analyze train routes once a year.
Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., who championed this issue, said rerouting hazardous cargo around high-risk areas could save many lives. “These shipments of toxic chemicals are literally ‘Hell on Wheels’ rolling through our communities,” he said in a statement.
It’s unclear what the bill’s impact would be in Hampton Roads. Neither of the two major railroads operating in the region, Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern and CSX Corp. of Jacksonville, Fla., would comment on the legislation, directing inquiries to the Association of American Railroads.
Tom White, an association spokesman, said the group did not oppose this measure because equal consideration is given to safety and security when considering alternative routes. I t fought earlier versions that required railroads to divert hazardous shipments around urban areas, believing that longer, circuitous routes could increase the potential for accidents.
The bulk of rail cargo in Hampton Roads consists of coal and international cargo containers moving to and from the port. Some hazardous chemicals are moved by rail to be distributed to various industrial customers. Norfolk Southern and CSX would not disclose the types and amounts of high-risk substances they carry locally, citing security concerns.
Nationally, hazardous shipments are a small part of the cargo carried by railroads. U.S. railroads move about 30 million carloads of cargo annually, and about 1.7 million of those involve hazardous substances, White said. But that definition is very broad, encompassing such cargos as beer and contaminated soil, he said.
About 100,000 carloads contain the most toxic chemicals, mainly chlorine for water treatment plants and anhydrous ammonia for use in making fertilizer, White said.
The legislation does not prescribe alternative routes for high-risk cargo. Rather, it requires railroads to choose the safest and most secure route in consultation with state and local governments. It calls for special attention to be paid to “high-consequence” targets that could result in a catastrophic loss of life, major damage to national security or defense capabilities or national economic harm.
Rick Hind, a legislative director for the environmental group Greenpeace, called the measure “a clear step forward.” He said he hopes the Bush administration makes enacting the legislation a priority.
A chemical release from a railcar in a major city could be devastating. The Naval Research Laboratory determined that the toxic plume might cause serious injury or death to more than 100,000 people in the first half-hour after the incident.
White said he didn’t know how much the legislation would cost the railroad industry because studies of alterative routes had yet to be done. But a similar measure proposed last year by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said “we do not expect rail carriers to incur significant costs associated with rerouting.”
The best solution, White said, is using safer chemicals so fewer toxics have to be shipped.