With an increasing volume of hazardous materials being transported by train, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is calling for the replacement or retrofitting of tanker cars being used.
Schumer, joined by state legislators and local officials, delivered his message this morning from the Village of Sloan, a center of rail activity named after a former railroad president.
“This is one of the most heavily traveled train routes in the country,” Schumer said. “There’s a known threat that passes through the towns hundreds of times each day.”
Crude oil – too much for existing pipelines to handle – and other hazardous materials are being carried in DOT-111 tank cars, which Schumer said account for 70 percent of tankers in use. Up to 300 of those cars, carrying crude oil and ethanol, travel daily through Buffalo and Cheektowaga on the CSX rail lines, he said.
But the safety of the DOT-111 cars has been called into question. “They are prone to tears and spills when there’s a derailment, God forbid,” Schumer said.
On July 6, a runaway train carrying oil in DOT-111 tankers derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Que., killing an estimated 50 people and destroying dozens of buildings in the town of 6,000.
In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board has cited the tankers as a major factor in the 2009 accident and hazardous materials release in Cherry Valley, Ill., involving a train carrying ethanol. One woman died in that incident.
Schumer is calling on the federal Department of Transportation to come up with a plan to phase out DOT-111 cars, which still could be used for transporting less hazardous substances such as corn syrup. “The new cars are made structurally stronger,” he said, citing the DOT-105 and DOT-112 models.
Any change would have to be implemented through the Federal Railway Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulatory process.
email: jhabuda@buffnews.com
Schumer, joined by state legislators and local officials, delivered his message this morning from the Village of Sloan, a center of rail activity named after a former railroad president.
“This is one of the most heavily traveled train routes in the country,” Schumer said. “There’s a known threat that passes through the towns hundreds of times each day.”
Crude oil – too much for existing pipelines to handle – and other hazardous materials are being carried in DOT-111 tank cars, which Schumer said account for 70 percent of tankers in use. Up to 300 of those cars, carrying crude oil and ethanol, travel daily through Buffalo and Cheektowaga on the CSX rail lines, he said.
But the safety of the DOT-111 cars has been called into question. “They are prone to tears and spills when there’s a derailment, God forbid,” Schumer said.
On July 6, a runaway train carrying oil in DOT-111 tankers derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Que., killing an estimated 50 people and destroying dozens of buildings in the town of 6,000.
In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board has cited the tankers as a major factor in the 2009 accident and hazardous materials release in Cherry Valley, Ill., involving a train carrying ethanol. One woman died in that incident.
Schumer is calling on the federal Department of Transportation to come up with a plan to phase out DOT-111 cars, which still could be used for transporting less hazardous substances such as corn syrup. “The new cars are made structurally stronger,” he said, citing the DOT-105 and DOT-112 models.
Any change would have to be implemented through the Federal Railway Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulatory process.
email: jhabuda@buffnews.com