Menendez proposes rail-safety bill

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

Menendez proposes rail-safety bill

Weeks after he stood near the Mantua Creek, where a train derailed in Paulsboro nearly two years ago, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on Thursday introduced a bill intended to make the delivery of hazardous materials by rail safer.

Menendez (D., N.J.) vowed at a news conference in August that he would propose legislation in response to the findings and recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB in late July determined that a number of missteps, most by Conrail, led to the Nov. 30, 2012, derailment and chemical spill. The board also criticized first responders in their handling of the situation.

The legislation, titled the Toxics by Rail Accountability and Community Knowledge (TRACK) Act, calls on the Department of Transportation to establish a number of rules - including that rail companies provide information about hazardous materials in transit to officials in conduit communities.

Among other standards in the bill is a requirement for a "formal procedure" for trains seeking to pass a red-light signal on a movable bridge. Some civil penalties for violations are also proposed.

The accident occurred in the early morning after a Conrail train conductor determined the 82-car freight train safe to proceed over a swing bridge, despite a red light. The locking mechanisms holding the bridge in place were not secure, federal investigators found, and seven cars derailed, four into the creek. One car breached, releasing vinyl chloride, a carcinogen, into the atmosphere.

The high-profile accident also prompted then-U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.) in late 2013 to present two bills: one requiring independent oversight of railroads and another designating "incident commanders" during such accidents. Those remain in House subcommittees.

- Angelo Fichera