(The following article by Matthew Artz was posted on the San Francisco Examiner website on February 23.)
SAN FRANCISCO — Union Pacific has agreed to significantly reduce the number of rail cars filled with hazardous materials it keeps at a city rail yard, officials said.
Union Pacific will remove roughly half the rail cars being stored at the South City train station, and cease temporarily staging railcars at the yard whose final destination is outside San Mateo County, according to Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, who brokered the agreement Wednesday at a meeting between the city and Union Pacific.
“This is a satisfactory first step,” Lantos said. “Cutting back on the cars being stored at the yard certainly reduces the threat of a hazardous spill.”