(The following article by Eric Anderson was posted on the Albany Times-Union website on March 20.)
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Amtrak plans to run its first through-trains between Albany and Syracuse today, eight days after a CSX freight train derailed and exploded in Oneida.
The explosion and a series of other accidents prompted the Federal Railroad Administration to give CSX tracks throughout New York state a close examination on Monday. The accidents, said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman, have “disrupted lives and commerce and shaken our confidence in the safety of tracks.”
For Boardman, a former state transportation commissioner who grew up in central New York, the Oneida accident hit close to home. His sister called him from her home in Rome the same time CSX did to tell him of the accident. Rome, where Boardman and his wife also have a home, is just east of Oneida.
The FRA’s multiday inspection will cover 1,300 miles of CSX track, using a car that has been outfitted with computers, lasers and other high-tech gear to measure a wide range of track conditions. The digital data are displayed on large flat-screens inside.
The inspection launched Monday had been scheduled for next month, but Boardman said it was moved up after the latest CSX accident. It wasn’t clear whether the April inspection was the result of CSX’s earlier accidents or a routine occurrence. The FRA says it inspects tracks used by passenger trains and trains carrying hazardous materials.
While CSX and other railroads are responsible for their own inspections to meet federal standards, Boardman said the FRA would review CSX’s rail-inspection program. “I want to know how track problems are identified,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who last week had criticized CSX, welcomed the FRA’s moves.
“There have been far too many accidents and near-misses on CSX track,” he said Monday afternoon. “This is a good start.”
CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said his railroad was cooperating fully with the FRA.
“We take our commitment to operating a safe railroad very seriously,” he said. “We regret accidents that have occurred in New York state.”
Sullivan said the track where the accident occurred complied with FRA regulations, and was inspected visually at least twice a week on non-consecutive days.
The 79-car freight train, which included 40 tank cars carrying propane, derailed, setting off an explosion and fire early Monday morning.
Freight trains resumed operation on the line after 4 a.m. Saturday, Sullivan said.
Sullivan said CSX had fewer accidents in 2006 than in 2005. FRA figures show CSX had 479 accidents of all types in 2005, and 368 in 2006. The figures exclude highway-rail accidents.
In New York state, the FRA listed 53 CSX accidents in 2005 and 38 in 2006.
Schumer last week said 572 rail accidents had occurred between 2000 and 2006 across upstate New York, and caused nearly $34 million in damage. Those figures include all railroads.
Meanwhile, an Amtrak “bus bridge” that carried people between Albany and Syracuse will be replaced today by the first passenger trains through Oneida since the derailment, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said.
He cautioned that congestion from backed-up freight trains will continue to cause delays.