04.07.23
After the East Palestine train derailment, Schumer says we need legislation to prevent an accident like this from happening in Western New York, a hub for freight rail activity: Norfolk Southern has already had two destructive derailments in the Wyoming County, plus other WNY crashes such as The 2020 crash in East Aurora near Buffalo
Schumer updates on new bipartisan bill that would expand notifications Hazardous materials, hold abusers accountable and support first responders to keep WNY safe
Schumer: We can’t let safety for upstate New York go off the rails: Time to speed up common-sense rail safety reform
Located along the southern line from Norfolk to Attica, New York, which has already suffered a destructive train derailment in 2018, US Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said key new legislation , the bipartisan Railroad Safety Act of 2023 is in full swing. Building on Schumer’s direct calls to railroads last month to get answers from railroads about how they can best improve safety in New York State, the senator details how this bill will help create new rail safety protocols, it will hold railroads accountable for malfeasance and increase the transparency of trains carrying hazardous materials, which are critical to freight rail hubs like Western New York.
“The horrific train derailment in Ohio has people in Attica, Buffalo and Western New York rightfully concerned about the safety of the hazardous materials trains that regularly travel through our communities. The tracks behind me they go through the heart of Wyoming County and we’ve seen firsthand how destructive and terrifying a derailment can be both here in Attica in 2018 and in East Aurora in 2020.” Senator Schumer said. “Western New York is a hub for freight rail activity, and we can’t let this issue go any further. I’m here to say the Senate is moving full steam ahead with common-sense bipartisan safety reforms rail, and as majority leader I will be the driver and do everything I can to get the necessary support to increase transparency and communication, strengthen safety protocols, increase investment in equipment and personnel, and increase fines on offenders”.
The horrific train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Schumer said, shines a spotlight on the need for serious reforms in how railroads communicate with local communities and the need for safety reforms to prevent them from happening. avoidable accidents like this in places like Buffalo, Attica. and Western New York. Schumer, a longtime rail safety advocate who led the charge to eliminate the use of DOT-111 rail cars to transport crude oil and ethanol, said it is time to act and that the Act of railway safety is the first important step to make this possible. .
Western New York has a long history of derailments and other accidents, which Schumer said makes it even more important to strike while the iron is hot to pass this bill as soon as possible. In 2020, a train derailed in East Aurora while transporting propane through the city. Authorities described the incident as a near miss, saying the crash could have been potentially “catastrophic.” Wyoming County itself has seen two railroad derailments in recent years. Earlier in 2018, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Attica, sending two rail engines and about 10 rail cars off the tracks where the main engine caught fire due to diesel fuel. Approximately ten different fire and emergency services from Wyoming and adjacent counties responded to the scene, including Alexander Fire, Varysburg Fire, Bennington Fire, Wyoming County Emergency Services and Hazmat Team, Genesee County Emergency Services and Hazmat Team, NYS Police, Attica Fire and Wyoming Correctional Facility. Due to its position, the engine that caught fire was left to burn mainly due to the difficult location of the derailment, and the cleanup took several days. Then, in 2020, a train derailed in Silver Springs, causing at least two covered hoppers used to transport salt to overturn completely, while several others had derailed but remained upright. The incident halted exchange operations in the city centre. Most of the town’s railroad crossings were blocked for about 12 hours while railroad crews worked to clear the debris.
Additionally, Schumer explained that CSX’s mainline runs from Buffalo through Genesee County and the GLOW region. This is one of the busiest lines on CSX’s network and carries materials, including oil trains carrying volatile crude oil.
Wyoming County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Rebecca Ryan said: “I would like to thank Senator Schumer for his efforts to prevent rail disasters like the one in East Palestine, Ohio and the surrounding region in Pennsylvania. We agree that when disasters occur, local emergency responders are the first on the scene . It is imperative that the railroad and local municipalities and their emergency first responders have open lines of communication and transparency in order to develop adequate emergency response plans. Training is essential to implement these response plans and the inclusion of grants is needed and greatly appreciated. Thanks again to Senator Schumer for pushing this bipartisan legislation to ensure rail safety for Wyoming County and the nation.”
Wyoming County Fire and Emergency Management Director Brian Meyers said: “After the train derailments in Attica in 2018, and more recently in Silver Springs in 2020, Wyoming County knows firsthand the effects these accidents have on our community and first responders. We appreciate Senator Schumer’s support to the Rail Safety Act because making sure these trains are safe and that we have the support and information we need is vital to ensuring the safety of all Wyoming County residents.”
Specifically, Schumer said the bill, among many other provisions, would:
1. Improve the safety of all trains carrying hazardous materials by:
- Require emergency response plans and mandate that rail carriers must provide advance notification and information to emergency response officials in each state about what they are transporting. The notification must include a written gas discharge plan for the hazardous materials being transported.
- Building on existing eliminations and modifications for DOT-111 cars, which Senator Schumer has long championed, demanding safer standards and specifications for none train carrying Class 3 flammable liquids regardless of train composition, not just high-risk flammable trains.
- Reduce the risk of wheel bearing failures by requiring trains carrying hazardous materials to be scanned by hotbox detectors every 10 miles and strengthening inspection requirements.
- Adding new requirements to prevent crossings blocked by trains carrying hazardous materials due to railroad delays and addressing other issues that can prevent or mitigate derailments, including train size and weight standards.
2. It requires a highly trained crew of two to work aboard each train
- For years, railroads have tried to cut costs by looking to reduce locomotive operators to one-man crews. In New York alone, the railroad workforce has decreased by more than 600 workers between 2010 and 2019. This bill creates a permanent requirement for railroads to operate with at least two people, ensuring that there are sufficient railroad personnel format for safe operation and response after any derailment.
3. Make rail carriers pay for their mistakes
- Increased the maximum fine USDOT can issue for safety violations from $225,000 to 1% of railroads’ annual operating revenue.
4. Supporting first responders who keep communities safe from derailments:
- Establish a $1 million annual fee on railroads to pay for the training of local emergency responders who are first on the scene of any accident.
- This new funding will be used to expand Assistance for Local Emergency Response Training (ALERT) grants from focusing on activities related to the transportation of crude oil, ethanol and other flammable liquids to also include any flammable material. The competitively awarded ALERT program provides volunteer or remote emergency response training to the National Fire Protection Association standard.
This builds on Schumer’s direct advocacy to get answers from rail companies and increase transparency. In a letter sent last month, Schumer demanded the companies outline the steps they are taking to improve rail safety and better communicate notifications to all levels of government to ensure a preventable tragedy like the one in Ohio doesn’t happen again to never happen again Schumer also got the CEO of Norfolk Southern to testify before Congress. The senator has also written to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urging them to conduct safety audits of the major freight railroads operating in the country.
Schumer has long pushed for stronger and better information sharing between railroads, states and localities to increase community safety. In 2013, he asked that local emergency response officials be notified in advance if a train carrying crude oil passed through his community. In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation quickly issued an emergency order requiring State Emergency Response Commissions to be notified, which was later made permanent for high-hazard flammable trains in a rule of 2015. Schumer had also pushed for other increased safety provisions, such as requiring freight carriers to equip high-risk flammable unit trains carrying crude oil or hazardous materials with electronically controlled air brakes (ECPs), but that rule it was later repealed under the Trump administration in 2018. In 2013, Schumer successfully pushed the federal DOT to regulate hazardous crude oil carried by DOT-111 tankers that were common in New York state. Schumer has also pushed for better information sharing between rail companies and local first responders, who are often the first on the scene of a derailment. Before Schumer’s defense, railroads transporting crude oil in high-hazard flammable trains through New York communities were not required to notify emergency response teams, but she obtained an emergency order from 2014 by the USDOT that now requires this information to be shared. Schumer has continually pushed the railroads to expand these provisions so that local government and first responders have all the information they need.
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