(Gannett News Service circulated the following article by Dan Wiessner on March 15.)
ALBANY, N.Y. — Armed with a report showing there has been almost two train accidents a week in upstate New York in the past six years, Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday demanded a federal hearing and tougher laws to crack down on railroad companies.
The call came after an accident Monday in Oneida, N.Y., in which at least five train cars carrying propane and other chemicals exploded and derailed, prompting school and road closings and home evacuations. There were no injuries.
According to a report issued by Schumer, 572 rail accidents have occurred upstate from 2000 to 2006, causing $34 million in damage. There were 295 accidents from 1995 to 1999.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. Whether it’s carelessness or negligence …”
The Democrat said he has introduced legislation to toughen regulations on rail companies and increase penalties for negligence. He wants Congress to hold hearings on freight rail safety.
“The rail industry runs things now in Washington (D.C.),” he said, calling inspections too infrequent, fines too weak and requirements to upgrade train cars too lax. “Federal regulators haven’t done enough to crack down.”
Schumer’s bill would set age limits for cars carrying hazardous materials. It also would mandate that cars be inspected yearly and upgraded every 15 years while raising the maximum penalty for gross negligence.
The senator singled out CSX, the largest railroad in the eastern United States, whose trains include those on the Amtrak line and the one involved in the Oneida derailment. Since December, CSX trains have been involved in four accidents statewide. The company operates 1,300 miles of track and employs 2,400 New Yorkers, according to its Web site.
Schumer said CSX “has failed to prevent these accidents for far too long” and called for creation of a federal task force to determine whether the company has done enough to fix past problems and prevent future incidents.
A CSX spokesman said that safety is the company’s priority.
“Though we’ve had several high-profile incidents, our safety record has improved steadily,” Bob Sullivan said. “We’re extremely focused on safety, and our approach involves spending a lot of money on our infrastructure and equipment.”
CSX spends $1.4 billion yearly on track maintenance and complying with federal mandates, he said, and tracks are inspected visually twice a week. Sullivan claimed accidents on CSX lines decreased 24 percent from 2005 to 2006.
Oneida Fire Chief Don Hudson called CSX a “first-rate operation” that has cooperated fully with local officials following the accident.
New York had 16 fewer rail accidents in 2006 than in 2005, reflecting a 12 percent decrease nationwide, the Federal Railroad Administration said. Schumer said yesterday that the agency “hasn’t been doing its job in terms of inspections and staying vigilant.” But a spokesman for the agency said attempts are being made to make railroads safer.
“We are currently implementing a national rail safety action plan with a number of components that focus on different factors that cause accidents,” Steve Kulm said. “We’ve also taken action on increasing civil penalties by upping the minimum fines and basing them on the severity of consequence.”
The agency submitted a bill to Congress last month that would let the agency regulate employees’ work hours in order to address fatigue and would establish new programs to reduce risks when trains carry hazardous materials, Kulm said.