CHICAGO — When derailed freight train cars carrying ethanol burst into flames just 50 miles from her Chicago suburb, killing a motorist who tried to flee, Barrington Mayor Karen Darch saw her worst fears realized.
"This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been afraid of,” said Darch, who failed to stop a sale that will boost freight traffic through her town.
The derailment earlier this month highlights the struggle to prevent such disasters along the 140,000-mile U.S. rail network. The pressure is on to tackle outstanding safety issues with hazardous-cargo shipments expected to soar in coming years. Fears terrorists might view chemical-laden tankers as easy targets adds to the urgency.
Competing interests that sometimes pit the government against railroads, suburbs against cities or chemical makers against environmentalists complicate efforts to secure the transport of around 1.7 million carloads of hazardous material a year.
One of the most contentious issues has been new federal regulation requiring that companies reroute trains hauling the most toxic materials away from big cities. Those rules apply to substances that can vaporize, like chlorine.
New federal rules that have been partially implemented require that new tankers be better fortified to lessen chances of spills or explosions. Amid current economic woes, though, railways aren’t buying many new tankers.
Some railroads have opposed mandatory rerouting of hazardous freight — a rule debated for years before its final implementation early this year. They argued there’s often no alternative to running trains through cities and that upgrading out-of-the-way tracks to bear tanker-car loads would prove costly.
Some companies are steering more trains onto lines that cut through towns and suburbs to bypass chronic train-track congestion in Chicago, the nation’s premier rail hub. Outlying communities say the reroutes increase their exposure to derailments.
by the associated press
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