Share your views
Submit letters to the editor via email to suburbanletters@tribpub.com. Please include your name and town of residence for publication. Please include phone number and email address for confirmation. Letters should be no more than 250 words.
Larger crews needed as more and more hazardous trains rumble through towns
What’s the legal minimum crew size in Illinois required to transport highly toxic, flammable and explosive hazardous materials on freight trains more than one-mile, and 100-plus cars long?
If you guessed not even two, you’re correct, thanks to a recent federal ruling.
As crew size goes down, the number of freight trains on rails may soon go up. A $31 billion merger is on the table to combine Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads. If approved, this will create the only railroad linking Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Among nearby areas impacted are Schaumburg, Glenview, Northbrook, Deerfield, Libertyville, Round Lake and Fox Lake.
Obvious irritations are delayed travel and emergency response times caused by longer, heavier, more frequent trains; low frequency noise and vibrations; commuter train interruptions; along with air, water and soil contamination. More concerning, however, are dangers associated with rail cargo. An Illinois State Emergency Response Commission attorney confirmed a list of nearly 400 hazardous materials transported by rail, all of which we can expect to roll through our communities at some point or other.
Hazardous materials carried beside homes, schools and workplaces include Bakken crude oil, which comes with a two-mile diameter blast zone; anhydrous ammonia and chlorine gas that kill within a couple of breaths; EtO, a known carcinogen; and spent nuclear fuel that’s been compared to an X-ray machine left on. Rule-making discussions now center around transporting super-chilled liquefied natural gas (LNG), with an end date of June 30, 2024. An LNG derailment and explosion with gliding fire that can’t be put out would dwarf Bakken crude catastrophes.
Is it sensible to place this responsibility on the shoulders of a single, overworked, underpaid, excessively fatigued engineer?
Congress has the power to legislate safer crew sizes. Call your U.S. congressperson and U.S. senators today and demand the minimum of a two-person crew.
Gerri Songer, Hawthorn Woods
