Derailment after derailment. They just keep happening.
Since early February, there have been numerous derailments in North America carrying crude from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. These accidents have sparked increased calls from citizens, the rail industry and lawmakers for the federal government to increase safety regulations.
To keep up with these incidents and new safety regulations, PublicSource provides a roundup of stories every Friday.
Nominee to lawmakers: Deadline on railroads making brake updates will be enforced
Obama’s pick to lead the Federal Railroad Administration told a U.S. Senate panel that her administration would enforce a Dec. 31 deadline established by a 2008 law that requires railroads to implement a braking technology called positive train control, according to The New York Times. Experts have said that the technology likely would have prevented the deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia earlier this year.
Senators fight for crude-by-rail safety
U.S. senators from Minnesota and Wisconsin want railroads to be more transparent about when trains haul crude oil through cities, calling it a “common-sense measure,” according to The Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Railroads refuse to provide more information on railroad bridges
Despite a plea by the head of the federal rail agency to do so, railroad companies have refused to hand over more information to local officials about the structural integrity and safety conditions of thousands of railroad bridges, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
New York cities update emergency response plans for oil trains
After New York’s governor asked for a review of emergency response needs surrounding oil train crashes, environmental regulators are helping local emergency response officials along crude oil routes update plans, train firefighters and get more equipment, according to The Associated Press.
Reach Natasha Khan at nkhan@publicsource.org. Follow her on Twitter @khantasha.
