BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
NORTHERN VALLEY, N.J. —— Two recent crashes involving CSX trains in north and central New Jersey—especially one major incident Dec. 8 that involved multiple derailments of a 141—car train in Union Township – have raised new questions about rail safety in North Jersey among activists and firefighters.
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A second minor crash in Norwood Dec. 10 destroyed a vehicle that stalled on the tracks.
Both incidents occurred the week before activists were aggressively lobbying the state Senate to override a July veto by “lame duck” Gov. Chris Christie that defeated a bill calling for more transparency by rail companies, including CSX, about rail shipment contents.
Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club director, who participated in the Nov. 12 Bergenfield rally, said he wants the bill to get overridden but pointed out that area residents have “been lucky” as no recent derailments have involved Bakken crude oil shipments.
“We cannot allow these railroads to transport (volatile) cargo without giving us more information. If one car explodes, its one car too many,” said Tittel via phone Dec. 14.
He said both incidents in Union Twp. and Norwood show that CSX “is playing ‘Russian roulette’ with our railroad system.” He charged CSX has not repaired 13 track problems in Bergen County found on a 10-mile segment of CSX River Line between Ridgefield Park and Harrington Park.
“Some day we’re going to have a derailment that is going to be catastrophic,” said Tittel. He said overriding the governor’s veto of legislation to increase transparency of rail line shipments “is a public safety issue. We need to send a message to the governor on this,” he added.
Neither CSX crash involved rail cars carrying hazardous materials. Nonetheless, activists expressed concern had the cars been transporting hazardous – and possibly volatile cargo – the situation could have created risk for area residents living near such rail incidents, given that little information about rail car contents is now publicly available.
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CSX annual volume reports for rail shipments posted online for 2017 show a 0.2 percent increase in U.S. shipments of petroleum and petroleum products from last year, increasing to 508,789 carloads.
Efforts to obtain specific information about quantities of Bakken crude oil shipped through the North Jersey area were not returned by press time.
“Every year CSX trains thousands of first responders on how to safely respond to a rail emergency. Our team of hazardous material specialists offer classroom training at local fire stations, exercises and table-top drills, web-based and self-study courses, as well as hands-on experience with the CSX Safety Train, which allows first responders to train on specific rail equipment and simulate a response to a hazardous materials incident,” said Bryan Tucker, vice president, CSX corporate communications, via email Dec. 13.
Meanwhile, Shane Mitchell, a legislative aide to Sen. Loretta Weinberg, told Northern Valley Press that the effort to override Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of legislation requiring more transparency of oil train shipments was set for Monday, Dec. 18 in the state Senate. In Gov. Christie’s eight years, there has never been a successful veto override vote, noted Mitchell.
If successful, a similar override vote would likely occur in the Assembly early in 2018. An override requires 27 votes in the Senate and 54 in the Assembly, said Mitchell.
Christie vetoed the bill in July, approved by the Senate and Assembly, saying he was concerned about “terrorism” if rail shipment information was made public.
Union Township Fire Chief Michael Scanio, among first responders to Dec. 8’s major derailment, said he initially saw rail cars that could contain liquids. However, he said on Dec. 12 that the train’s engineer showed him the train manifest upon his arrival on the scene and it indicated no rail cars with hazardous materials or liquids.
He said he was well aware that rail cars transporting Bakken crude oil traverse the rail lines through Union Township on their way to refineries in Linden.
Scanio said before he was able to verify the contents of derailed rail cars, he requested local police to evacuate nearby townhomes and businesses. He said nearly 150 people were evacuated.
Prior to Union County’s hazardous materials response team arrival, Scanio said he checked individual rail car numbers using an AskRail app on his phone that provides up-to-date information on all North American Class I railroad rail cars.
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Scanio said regular training is offered by CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines to help prepare and assist first responders manage risks from hazardous rail shipments. He said he continues to send personnel to training sessions when offered.
Asked about getting more information about rail shipments of hazardous cargo, Scanio said that he is “all for more information” but worried that it might be kind of “overwhelming and may lead to complacency” in terms of advance planning or training. “We’re always evolving training for worse-case scenarios. We’re in the business of what-ifs,” added Scanio.
The chief said Bakken crude oil “was only one of many hazardous substances that come through here” on rail and highways and the fire department must prepare for all hazardous cargo shipments. He said while his department constantly trains, “you can’t prepare for everything.”
He said the last derailment locally was in 1982.
At a rally sponsored by the Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains held Nov. 12, protesters marched in front of CSX rail cars in Bergenfield to raise awareness of their efforts to get CSX to share more information about the hundreds of rail cars transporting volatile Bakken crude oil, and ethanol, through northeast Bergen County.
CSX trains carrying hazardous cargo, such as Bakken crude oil, enter Northvale and pass through Norwood, Harrington Park, Closter, Haworth, Dumont, Bergenfield, Teaneck (near the Englewood border), Bogota, Ridgefield Park and Ridgefield on their way to refineries in Linden.