(The following story by Ihosvani Rodriguez appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on September 30.)
SAN ANTONIO — Aggravated by three train accidents in less than five months, County Judge Nelson Wolff fired off a terse letter to railroad giant Union Pacific on Wednesday demanding to learn what steps — if any — the company has taken to ensure the safety of Bexar County residents.
The letter comes less than a week after UP was involved in a nonfatal accident with another train near a high school adjacent to the downtown area.
In his one-page letter to UP President James R. Young, Wolff took on a more curt tone than the chummier attitude he and other local officials displayed earlier this year after meeting with UP representatives to address safety and long-term infrastructure issues.
That meeting took place after a June 28 derailment that killed three people in Southwest Bexar County. Officials from both sides emerged with a spirit of cooperation and held a news conference to laud each other for taking action.
But that cordial relationship now seems strained.
Wolff wrote in his letter that he appreciated Young’s visit but insisted the company make concrete assurances that operating errors and other safety precautions are being addressed.
“We do not have that assurance today. In fact, we have not seen any results of Union Pacific efforts to address the safety and security of local Union Pacific operations,” Wolff wrote.
“While I look forward to continuing our discussions regarding long-term investments in local rail infrastructure, our community must see evidence now that Union Pacific is serious about improving safety and security in Bexar County.”
UP spokesman Mark Davis said the company is not ignoring the county’s pleas for safety.
“His concerns are our concerns, and we have not been standing by,” said Davis, who had not received the letter as of late Wednesday. “We have been in a review process since the very first accident in order to see what needs to be corrected. We’re taking this very seriously.”
Davis acknowledged UP has not taken any corrective action so far, but he emphasized an ongoing investigation is the first step.
Wolff said the main purpose of the letter was to convey the urgency of the matter, and he said he hopes to hear an official response soon.
“I haven’t seen any evidence of what they’ve done,” he said. “And if they have done anything, I want then to show us.”
Wolff has been pushing to move the railroad lines away from the downtown area since the first train accident, in May, fearing a hazardous material disaster could occur in the city’s heart.
That wreck, near Brackenridge High School, injured three men and caused a 5,600-gallon diesel spill along the San Antonio River. Four of the train cars that did not derail were carrying highly explosive propane.
A month and a half later, a second collision resulted in the nation’s deadliest chemical accident on the rails in more than a decade.
Forty cars overturned and a container with 90 tons of chlorine ruptured — killing a train conductor and two women who were asleep in their nearby home. Fifty people were injured.
The latest derailment came last week, when a runaway string of 50 rail cars in a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train broadsided a UP train east of Brackenridge High School.
While nobody was hurt, the UP train was pulling 14 tankers of sulfuric acid and five tankers of sodium hydroxide — each considered hazardous and potentially deadly.
Company officials repeated Wednesday that the latest accident may have been caused “by vandalism” — speculating that illegal riders detached the runaway cars as they were trying to get off the train.