Eastern Railroad Discussion > NJ: There are oil trains (follow up)

The Bergen Record has a follow up on last week's article about 100 car unit trains of oil passing through the densely packed suburbs and through several watershed areas of northeastern NJ.

The federal rules announced this week are a "welcome improvement" and will go a ways in helping first responders. However, there is much more to be done. [I've heard a lot more requests for high rail inspection time, etc in the last few weeks in NJ, for example.]

A 40 mph speed limit for oil etc trains won't make a big difference here, as much of the line is near or under 40 mph.

Congressman Bill Pascrell and Senator Cory Booker are quoted in the article.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/feds-tighten-rules-for-oil-trains-passing-through-n-j-and-other-states-1.1012640

While I don't like to see state entities interfering with interstate commerce, it is probably wise for railroads to get caught up on the PR game, and make sure the level of safety rises with the growth of this business. Get rid of low joints, run the Sperry car more often, get the welders out there at the first sign of trouble, and dump a lot of rock.

I grew up on the west side of Closter and along Schraalenburgh Road in Haworth (graduated NVRHS in 1962). As pointed out in a letter to the Editor of The Record (http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-wednesday-may-14-1.1015587?page=all) by a James Winters of Closter, lots of hazardous material has been transported over the CSXT River Line (used to be New York Central River Div.) for many years. Except for a derailment north of New Milford Avenue in Dumont in early 1960s(?), track south of NY state line apparently has been without major incidents.

John

DocJohn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I grew up on the west side of Closter and along
> Schraalenburgh Road in Haworth (graduated NVRHS in
> 1962). As pointed out in a letter to the Editor
> of The Record
> (http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letter
> s-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-wednesday-may-1
> 4-1.1015587?page=all) by a James Winters of
> Closter, lots of hazardous material has been
> transported over the CSXT River Line (used to be
> New York Central River Div.) for many years.
> Except for a derailment north of New Milford
> Avenue in Dumont in early 1960s(?), track south of
> NY state line apparently has been without major
> incidents.
>
> John

Major incidents is the key term here. There have been a lot of minor league grade crossing accidents, one in Dumont about three weeks ago. That has some people on edge.

The empty oil train accident in adjacent Rockland County pointed out how many aspects of first response need to be improved.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/14 04:37 by Lackawanna484.