(The San Antonio Express-News posted the following article on its website on March 15.)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Citing an “alarming” number of train incidents over the past three years in Bexar County, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials will hold a hearing today in San Antonio on the role of human errors.
The hearing will start at 10 a.m. in City Council chambers.
Human error caused a 2004 collision of two trains near San Antonio that spewed chlorine, killing four people and hospitalizing at least 30, and is suspected in an Oct. 17 derailment in Five Points, which smashed two homes after 17 boxcars jumped off tracks.
Last week, Federal Railroad Administration officials said train wrecks in 2006 decreased by 402 nationwide, or 12.4 percent. And those caused by human mistakes — the leading cause of train accidents — dropped 20.2 percent.
Texas led the way with 51 fewer reportable incidents.
But Texas, with 342 incidents last year, still had more than any other state. Bexar County, with 23 incidents, was third highest among counties, behind Harris and Tarrant counties.