Friday, August 22, 2014

Railroad “Bomb Trains” Speeding to Disaster


Dissident Voice  by Walter Brasch / August 21st, 2014

.....About 90 percent of the 106,000 tanker cars currently in service were built before 2011 when stricter regulations mandated a new design. The older cars are susceptible to leaks, explosions, and fires in derailments. But, because of intense lobbying by the railroads, they are still carrying oil.

Railroad derailments in the United States last year accounted for more than one million gallons of spilled oil, more than all spills in the 40 years since the federal government began collecting data. The oil pollutes the ground and streams; the fires and explosions pollute the air.....

.... The derailment and explosions of “bomb trains” became so severe that in May the Department of Transportation declared the movement by trains of crude oil from North Dakota derived by the process known as fracking posed an “imminent hazard.”....

.... If you’re Michael Ward, CEO of freight giant CSX, you say that lower speed limits “severely limit our ability to provide reliable freight service to our customers.”.....

.... if you’re a multi-billion dollar railroad industry, you think you have the right to set the rules.   read entire article here

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