(The following story by Mackenzie Ryan appeared on the St. Cloud Times website on June 13.)
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — A federal court recently upheld a state law that slows trains’ speeds from 60 mph to 30 mph through the northern Minnesota city of Orr — and that decision could pave the way for other communities to pursue slower train speeds.
“There could be a lot of communities asking for just the same thing,” said Marv Klug, Stearns County’s emergency management director.
But local emergency responders and emergency managers say St. Cloud-area communities will have to weigh the benefit — potentially less severe train derailments — against the likelihood of backing up traffic and taking resources away from other safety precautions.
“I can see where slowing the trains down through a heavily populated area would make some sense,” said Jim McDermott, Benton County’s emergency management director. “(But) the traffic is going to be there twice as long and back up. Do we create more problems by having the traffic back up?”
Slowing down trains
Orr officials began their quest to slow the trains almost four years ago after two derailments in two years caused Orr residents to grow concerned about Canadian National Railway trains, some of which carry hazardous cargo. Every day, five to 20 trains pass through Orr within 150 feet of the high school football field, a playground, a fire station, propane tanks and the downtown business district.
In defending the state law that requires a slower train speed through Orr, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson argued that local governments can pass laws based on local safety concerns.
If a car derails, “we feel at 30 miles per hour, we have a better chance of having those tanker cars stay intact rather than having it leak,” said Brian Bruns, co-chairman of the Orr Rail Safety Committee.
Kevin Soucie, a consultant working for Canadian National Railway, said he could not comment on the case.
“We’re currently reviewing our options,” he said.
Canadian National had challenged the 2005 state law, arguing that it violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars states from passing laws that create an excessive burden on interstate commerce.
“The time involved in traveling through Orr at 30 (miles per hour) is not much greater than traveling through Orr at 60 (miles per hour). Thus … the special law is not an impermissible burden on interstate commerce,” U.S. District Judge Michael Davis wrote.
Hazards here?
Like Orr, the St. Cloud area had multiple derailments a few years ago. From December 2004 to February 2005, three trains derailed less than nine miles apart.
In all three derailments, trains were traveling slower than the speed limit, according to reports filed with the Federal Railway Authority, which regulates and investigates the railroad industry and enforces regulations.
The Class 4 track, which runs parallel to the Mississippi River, limits freight trains to 60 mph and passenger trains to 80 mph. Heavier trains, such as coal trains, are required to go slower and typically travel less than 45 mph.
Like Orr, the area has a waterway and buildings near the tracks. At least 86 houses and businesses in St. Cloud, Sartell and Sauk Rapids — including a day care center, a post office and a handful of homes — sit within 100 feet of the tracks, an area considered the most likely danger zone for derailments, St. Cloud Times research found in 2005.
“We do have hazardous materials, we do have the schools,” Klug said. “Those kinds of things that impacted the judgment for the city of Orr are really the same kinds of criteria that we have here.”
BNSF Railway operates on the tracks through the St. Cloud area.
Slow trains, traffic
With almost 50 trains traveling through St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids each day, slowing down the trains also would have disadvantages.
“People (would) have to sit at the light for 10 minutes instead of five minutes,” McDermott said.
And that inconvenience has the potential to make traffic accidents more likely if frustrated drivers try another route.
“It might require a little bit further investigation,” McDermott said. “How many traffic accidents have we had related to people waiting for trains?”
And there are other safety measures officials could spend limited resources pursuing.
“It’s one of those things that doesn’t happen very often,” said St. Cloud Fire Department Battalion Chief Dean Wrobbel of train derailments. “There are a lot of other things that I can see are more dangerous.”
Of more concern, he said, is all the digging that happens in town.
“With the gas explosion that we had, it raises more questions and worries as far as hitting gas lines,” Wrobbel said.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)