All posts by Roger Straw

Editor, owner, publisher of The Benicia Independent
AMTRAK, Bakken Crude, Derailment, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Rail Safety

NPR: What’s in those tank cars near the Amtrak derailment?

Repost from State Impact Pennsylvania, NPR.org
[Editor:  Quote: “Conrail knows what’s in the cars on their tracks but considers it proprietary information, not to be revealed unless there’s an emergency.”  – RS]

What’s in those tank cars near the Amtrak derailment?

By Susan Phillips, May 13, 2015 | 6:12 PM

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia. The Amtrak train, headed to New York City, derailed and crashed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia. The Amtrak train, headed to New York City, derailed and crashed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

News footage of the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia Tuesday night shows nearby tank cars that look similar to the rail cars carrying crude oil or other hazardous material across the country each day. In aerial photos, it looks as if the Amtrak train, traveling at 100 miles an hour, nearly missed creating an even greater catastrophe, if it had struck an oil train, say, or a train carrying chlorine gas. Residents quickly took to twitter, wondering what about the content of those tank cars, and whether it was hazardous.

“This could be just one more in a litany of near misses,” said David Masur, director of PennEnvironment, an activist group working to ban oil trains.

It wouldn’t be far-fetched for a passenger rail car to collide with an oil train, dozens of oil trains run through the state on their way to Philadelphia and South Jersey refineries each week. In fact, Norfolk Southern runs oil trains on a track that runs above Amtrak lines, close to the derailment. Bakken crude oil from North Dakota crosses those lines daily, traveling across the Delaware river, and down to refineries in South Jersey. WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald says he saw the black tankers about 50 yards from the derailed Amtrak train.

But it’s still unclear what is in those tank cars.

“It could be corn oil, it could be very benign stuff,” said Conrail spokesman John Enright.

The accident occurred on Amtrak’s rail lines, but the scene is very close to a Conrail yard, which Enright says is used for local transport.

“I know the sensitivity to the whole crude oil situation,” said Enright. “One shouldn’t presume anything.”

Enright says Conrail knows what’s in the cars on their tracks but considers it proprietary information, not to be revealed unless there’s an emergency.

“If there was an incident then that information would be readily available to [first responders],” he said.

In this case, the Amtrak train did not hit any nearby freight cars, so the contents of the blank tankers remains a mystery.

Norfolk Southern, which operates the oil trains that cross the Amtrak line, did not respond to requests for comment. And the American Association of Railroads would also not comment on the freight rail traffic in the area. Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management would not comment on the contents, saying they were focusing on the accident itself.

But rail safety experts say the accident could have been much worse if the Amtrak train did hit those black tank cars, and if those cars were carrying explosive or flammable material.

A passenger is carried following an Amtrak train crash Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. Train 188 was traveling from Washington to New York City. (AP Photo/Paul Cheung)
A passenger is carried following an Amtrak train crash Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. Train 188 was traveling from Washington to New York City. (AP Photo/Paul Cheung)

Fred Millar is an independent rail safety expert.

“Having the oil train sitting there is not necessarily an undangerous situation,” said Millar.

Millar says, although it’s rare, trains have been known to run into each other. Federal investigators recently released a report about an oil train explosion in North Dakota in 2013, where the train hit a derailed freight train.

“One kind of industrial accident can set off another,” he said.

Not only would the death toll be higher, but the neighborhood would need to be evacuated.

Jim Blaze is an economist and railroad consultant who worked in the railroad industry for 30 years.

“Let’s say there was [hazardous material] in those rail cars,” said Blaze. “If the cars cracked open, it could have been an explosive force and caused a chain reaction. What would the casualty rate have been as a result? Could you imagine evacuating 750,000 people? What’s that going to cost? What’s the lost business revenue?”

Not only is it unclear what’s in those nearby tank cars. It’s unclear if Philadelphia’s first responders would be ready. The city’s Office of Emergency Management says it’s done exercises to prepare. But it’s not clear if the exercise has included passenger rail cars.

Pennsylvania’s Emergency Management Agency spokesman Cory Angell says that’s not a scenario he’s heard discussed.

Delaware County’s Office of Emergency Management says the risk of an Amtrak or regional rail line hitting an oil train is low because the passenger rail cars don’t run in close proximity to the oil trains as they do in Philadelphia. Ed Truitt runs Delco’s OEM.

“We’ve looked at a lot of different scenarios and that was never conceived as being a threat in Delaware County,” said Truitt.

Truitt says the rail cars only travel between midnight and 5 AM through the county.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block the implementation of new oil train safety rules.

 

AMTRAK, Derailment, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Rail Safety

Amtrak accident in Philadelphia: could’ve been much worse, the tank cars were full, missed by 50 yards

Repost from CNN [Editor:  The reporter interviews Scott Lauman, a nearby resident: “‘It missed that parked tanker by maybe 50 yards,’ he told KYW. ‘An Amtrak guy came by and he was telling me it turns out those tankers are full, and if that engine would’ve hit that tanker, it would’ve set off an explosion like no other.’”  NOTE: The videos only work on CNN’s website – see tweets, photos and video at CNN.com.  – RS]

Witness to Amtrak 188 crash: Train missed ‘tanker by maybe 50 yards’

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, Holly Yan and Don Melvin, CNN, May 13, 2015, 4:41 PM ET

Philadelphia Amtrak Crash 2015-05-12CNN1c(CNN) Rebecca Bibb awoke alongside the mangled Amtrak commuter train with no recollection of the carnage and chaos that had just unfolded.” The shoes, my shoes — are not my shoes. I lost my shoes. A lady gave me my shoes,” a distraught Bibb told CNN affiliate KYW. She recalls being on the train, in the third car from the back — and then, nothing. “I don’t remember anything. I did not hear any noise, did not see anything. When I started hearing people, I was on the side (of the crash scene), and someone told me I’d been delirious and that they had carried me off,” she told the station. When Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, it tore apart passenger cars, sending seven of them careening off the tracks. At least four toppled over, and some cars were smashed like aluminum cans. The rails were uprooted, and the badly damaged engine was left standing upright. At least seven people were killed and 200 more were sent to six area hospitals — some with critical injuries, authorities said. About 76 passengers were treated and released. Journalist Beth Davidz of Brooklyn was one of those fortunate enough to be released. To hear her Twitter feed tell it, she was on the phone when she boarded the train and thus chose not to sit in the “quiet car,” which was one of the most damaged in the wreck. Around 3 a.m., she tweeted she had been released from the hospital — “no wallet, one shoe, so grateful” — and later thanked CNN affiliate WPIX for helping her find a ride home. (CNN)Rebecca Bibb awoke alongside the mangled Amtrak commuter train with no recollection of the carnage and chaos that had just unfolded.”The shoes, my shoes — are not my shoes. I lost my shoes. A lady gave me my shoes,” a distraught Bibb told CNN affiliate KYW. She recalls being on the train, in the third car from the back — and then, nothing. “I don’t remember anything. I did not hear any noise, did not see anything. When I started hearing people, I was on the side (of the crash scene), and someone told me I’d been delirious and that they had carried me off,” she told the station. When Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, it tore apart passenger cars, sending seven of them careening off the tracks. At least four toppled over, and some cars were smashed like aluminum cans. The rails were uprooted, and the badly damaged engine was left standing upright. At least seven people were killed and 200 more were sent to six area hospitals — some with critical injuries, authorities said. About 76 passengers were treated and released. Journalist Beth Davidz of Brooklyn was one of those fortunate enough to be released. To hear her Twitter feed tell it, she was on the phone when she boarded the train and thus chose not to sit in the “quiet car,” which was one of the most damaged in the wreck. Around 3 a.m., she tweeted she had been released from the hospital — “no wallet, one shoe, so grateful” — and later thanked CNN affiliate WPIX for helping her find a ride home.

Speed a factor?

Scott Lauman, who lives in the Port Richmond neighborhood where the train crashed, told KYW that the tracks curve around a warehouse, and when the train reached the bend, “it looks like the engine just kept going straight, right off the curve, right down the hill and all of the cars just followed with it. And the engine was all the way over into the train yard.”

'Violent scene' near Amtrak train crash site
‘Violent scene’ near Amtrak train crash site 02:56. Click will take you to CNN for video.

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The train hit power lines and wiped out a support for a pedestrian bridge, leaving it hanging, Lauman told the station.
“They were pulling people, just lifeless,” he said of the rescue efforts.

But it could have been far worse in Lauman’s estimation.

“It missed that parked tanker by maybe 50 yards,” he told KYW. “An Amtrak guy came by and he was telling me it turns out those tankers are full, and if that engine would’ve hit that tanker, it would’ve set off an explosion like no other.”

Khaled Kayed, a volunteer with the Muslim-American Society, lives near the crash site and was on the scene before police began taping off the area. He saw many passengers with head injuries amid the chaos, he told CNN in an email.

“When we first got on to the scene we could see people laying on the ground covered in blood,” he wrote. “The scene was very disturbing! It looked like something straight out of a movie. When we got on the tracks you could see the carnage. The train could only be described as a tin can that was crushed & ripped apart. Anywhere you look you could see pieces of the train all around you. You could see some people trying to crawl out due to the train cars upside down & on their sides.”

It has not yet been established whether speed was a factor in the crash, which happened around 9:30 p.m. But passenger Janna D’Ambrisi said she thought the train was going “a little too fast around a curve.” “Then there was a jolt. And immediately you could tell the train derailed,” she said. “I was thrown into the girl next to me, sitting in the window seat. The train started to tip that way, to the right. And people on the other side of the train started to fall on us.” Moments later, she heard a banging from the bathroom. A man inside was screaming. “He was trying to unlock the door, but it was stuck,” D’Ambrisi said. The metal must have been bent.”

‘Everything flying’

Jeremy Wladis was on the last car of the train. He had been in Washington for work, and he was returning home to New York. Then he felt the jolt. The train was leaving the tracks. Wladis, 51, saw “phones, laptops, everything flying,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “There were women launched up in the luggage rack,” he said. “I don’t even know how they got there.” Once the train came to a rest, he and others helped the women down and they made their escape. Another passenger, Daniel Wetrin, 37 of New York, told the paper that the initial shock was gentle “compared to what came next.” “Within two seconds, it was chaos,” he said. Andrew Cheng, visiting from Singapore, was traveling with 14 relatives when he was thrown to the ground like a rag doll, along with other passengers, he told KYW. “Some were piling on top of the others,” he said, adding that he and his family members were able to walk away from the incident. “We know that we counted all the members. They’re all there. I can’t ask for more. That’s good enough.” Joan Helfman thought her ribs were probably broken, but, as a nurse, her mind was on the others who were hurt. “I saw so many head injuries and bloody faces,” she told KYW. “There were a lot of fractures — arms, shoulders, all kinds of fractures.” Helfman couldn’t believe the destruction. “This is a nightmare,” she recalled thinking, “and it can’t be happening.” People caught in luggage rack Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor is 363 miles of track connecting Washington to Boston. It is the busiest railroad in North America, as three times more people take the train between Washington and New York City than fly the route. Train 188 was on its way from Washington to New York, carrying 238 commuters and five crew members at the end of another workday. The trip was routine until the train passed through the Port Richmond neighborhood in Philadelphia. That’s when Wetrin saw passengers catapulted from their seats. “There were two people above our head in the luggage rack asking to be helped down,” he told CNN. “It was just unbelievable.” A video posted on Instagram showed people trying to help passengers out. “Keep crawling, OK?” one man tells a passenger. “Where am I crawling to?” the passenger asks. “Crawl forward, sir,” another man says.

Power cables add extra danger

Many passengers walked away, some with bloodied shirts or head wounds wrapped in bandages. But the journey from the crash site was also treacherous. “All the power cables that run parallel to the track caved in,” Wetrin said. “There were cut cables hanging around.” Many passengers, including former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Florida, praised the firefighters and police, who arrived within minutes. “Thank you so much to all the first responders-there w/in minutes,” Murphy tweeted. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Not all the rescuers wore uniforms. “My son went back and got everybody off our one car,” Helfman, the nurse, said. “There was a very small opening in the door, and we were able to get out.” Her son, Max, told KYW that his first priority was getting his mother off the train. Then he went to help the strangers. “Luckily I’m still here, I’m still walking,” Max Helfman said. “So I figured I would do my best to help because I saw everyone — I could see the blood on people’s faces. They can’t move. … So I just tried to do my best to help people get out of that car.”

AMTRAK, Derailment, High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs), Rail Safety

Photos of deadly Amtrak derailment: hazardous tank cars a close call?

PHILADELPHIA AMTRAK CRASH SCENE: IS ANYONE QUESTIONING THE CLOSE PROXIMITY OF TANK CARS?

By Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent, May 13, 2015 9:54 a.m. PDT
Philadelphia Amtrak Crash 2015-05-12b50
Maybe 15 feet from a tank car involvement?

With courage and strength to survivors and the grieving … it looks like this tragedy might’ve been much worse.  Check out the photos.  What was in those tank cars at the time of the accident?  What is typically stored in tank cars in that railyard so close to the tracks?  The Philadelphia Enquirer: “Gov. Wolf, who visited the scene overnight, said later that the trains derailed near a row of tanker cars ‘and that is a cause of additional concern.'”

Philadelphia Amtrak Crash 2015-05-12e50Philadelphia Amtrak Crash 2015-05-12cPhiladelphia Amtrak Crash 2015-05-12d

Crude By Rail, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Oil industry lobby, Rail industry lobby

Oil & Rail PAC Industry Contributions to U.S. Reps, Senators, 2013-15

Repost from MapLight  Celebrating 10 years of Revealing Money’s Influence on Politics

 Railroads and Oil Companies Deliver Contributions to Subcommittees Overseeing Crude By Rail Legislation

By Daniel Stevens, May 12, 2015
Scott Prokop/Shutterstock

May 13, 2015 — On May 1, the Department of Transportation issued new regulations requiring railroad cars that transport crude oil to meet a new safety standard. The rules will require rail companies to, among other things, stop using the most at risk rail cars by 2018. Safety groups and members of Congress have been calling on the Department to issue new rules for years. Several members of Congress have said that the new regulations are still not strong enough. Meanwhile, railroads and oil companies have said the new rules will hamper their industries. The two industries have contributed heavily to the congressional subcommittees that oversee the regulation of railroads and that are responsible for legislation relating to the safety of crude oil trains. Oil & Rail PAC Contributions to Reps 2013-15 Campaign Contributions Data: A MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to the principal campaign committees of members of Congress from the political action committees (PACs) of the Association of American Railroads and Class I Railroad companies (BNSF, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific); the American Petroleum Institute, and the top five oil companies (BP America, Chevron U.S.A., ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Shell Oil Company) that lobbied about “crude by rail” during the first quarter of 2015. Contributions data source: Federal Election Commission. Lobbying data source: Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. House of Representatives

    • The PACs of the top railroad and oil companies, as well as their trade associations, contributed, on average, 2 times more money ($30,621) to members of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials compared to the average member of the House ($15,244) during the 2014 election cycle (January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2014).
    • During the first quarter of 2015 (January 1, 2015 – March 31, 2015), the PACs of the top railroad and oil companies, as well as their trade associations, contributed, on average, 2.9 times more money ($5,210) to members of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials compared to the average member of the House ($1,808) .

Oil & Rail PAC Contributions to Senators 2013-15 Senate

    • The PACs of the top railroad and oil companies, as well as their trade associations, contributed, on average, about the same amount ($19,000) to members of the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security compared to the average member of the Senate ($18,868) during the 2014 election cycle (January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2014).
    • During the first quarter of 2015 (January 1, 2015 – March 31, 2015), the PACs of the top railroad and oil companies, as well as their trade associations, contributed, on average, 1.8 times more money ($3,118) to members of the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security compared to the average member of the Senate ($1,740).

Campaign Contributions Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to the principal campaign committees of members of Congress from the political action committees of the Association of American Railroads and Class I Railroad companies (BNSF, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific); the American Petroleum Institute, and the top five oil companies (BP America, Chevron U.S.A., ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Shell Oil Company) that lobbied about “crude by rail” during the first quarter of 2015 from recently available FEC data from January 1, 2013 – March 31, 2015.

MapLight is a 501(c)3 research organization that tracks money’s influence on politics.