Rail safety on radar before Quebec disaster
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
TRAIN SAFETY was the lesson taught recently by officials with the Maine Emergency Management Agency, during sessions held last week in Island Falls, Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou and Presque Isle. Here, a train is stopped at a crossing on North Street in Presque Isle. Emergency personnel from various agencies attended the meeting, held at the Public Safety Building, then walked to the train to view train safety features firsthand.
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
Rail safety has been on the minds of state and local officials in recent weeks, following the July 6 train derailment and subsequent explosion of several tankers in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, which resulted in a massive fire that destroyed a large portion of the community and caused numerous deaths.
Gov. Paul LePage attended a memorial mass for the 47 victims on July 27, meeting with Lac-Megantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche and other Canadian dignitaries prior to the service.
“With a heavy heart, I will visit Lac-Megantic, Quebec,” said LePage. “While a line divides our countries, it does not divide our people and it is important for Maine to support our northern neighbors during this time of need.”
The LePage Administration continues to address environmental and transportation needs within the state as it relates to railroad safety. Immediately following the July 6 derailment, LePage issued an executive order directing the Maine Department of Transportation to review the safety of freight rail transportation.
Additionally, MDOT Commissioner David Bernhardt sent a letter to all five freight railroads operating in Maine requesting review and submission of best practices regarding the securing of parked freight trains.
The Department of Environmental Protection, under the leadership of Commissioner Patricia Aho, has reassured Maine citizens that in the event of a similar disaster in Maine, the DEP would immediately respond to minimize the impacts to natural resources and our environment.
The DEP has 25 responders who are on-call 24/7, 365 days a year, and are trained to respond to oil and hazardous materials spills of all sizes.
“Mainers can be assured that DEP is proactive about protecting our significant natural resources,” said Aho.
Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree are also working with officials to address rail safety concerns, meeting July 24 with Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. This followed a letter to the NTSB, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in the wake of the Lac-Megantic rail accident.
“We need to get to the bottom of exactly what happened in order to prevent such an accident from happening here in Maine,” said Michaud. “Regardless of the outcome of the investigation in Canada, we should all be able to agree that our railroads should be utilizing the safest cars possible when transporting hazardous materials through our communities.”
The PHMSA has jurisdiction over railroad tank cars and is currently in the process of formulating a new rule on tank car design standards.
Local officials have also stepped up efforts to improve rail safety, with several training sessions taking place last week throughout Aroostook County to instruct emergency personnel on proper procedures in the event of an accident. The program, sponsored by the Maine Emergency Management Agency, included five sessions: Island Falls, Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou and Van Buren — beginning in Island Falls on Tuesday and concluding in Van Buren on Thursday.
“It was a really good training session. We learned a lot about switching tracks, safety features, working around switching areas, how trains operate, generators and where they’re located, as well as braking systems. We learned how to identify tankers and their products,” said Chief Darrell White, of the Presque Isle Fire Department.
White said the meeting provided an opportunity to collect contact information for railroad personnel, so that in the event of an emergency his department knows whom to contact.
“We know who to call and what info they’ll need,” said White.
“The biggest thing they taught us is when approaching a track, always assume a train is coming. Trains up here don’t run on schedules; they’re not passenger trains, they’re freight. Just because you’ve seen a train, another could be coming from the other direction,” said White.
From an operational standpoint, White said participants learned where the shut-down mechanisms are on a train, how the braking system works and where to stand and not to stand.
The meeting took place at the Public Safety Building on North Street on July 24, with about 35 people participating.
“ The program was sponsored by MEMA and had representatives from the County as well as from downstate. Teaching the class was Dick Towle, of the U.S. DOT Federal Rail Administration,” said White. Participants include firefighters, police, U.S. Border Patrol agents and other emergency personnel.
Darren Woods, department director for the Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency, said it was just a coincidence that the training session followed so closely after the accident in Canada.
“We’ve been working with MEMA on this for six months. The accident in Canada put things in motion to get the training done,” said Woods.
The three-day program featured both day and night sessions.
“We tried to make it more convenient for first-responders. All togheter, we trained approximately 150 emergency personnel,” he said.
Woods said training focused mostly on “how to work a railroad incident safely, communicating with rail companies and safety issues for responders dealing with that type of incident.”
“Responding to a rail incident is different than any other type of motor vehicle accident,” said Woods.
“The timing of these training sessions is just a coincidence. But it helped in getting more responders involved,” said Woods, noting the last railroad incident he could recall in Aroostook County was a derailment that occurred a couple years ago in Easton. No injuries were reported in that incident, nor was there any significant damage to the train or property involved.
For more information, call Woods at 493-4328.
