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New York State to fine CP $5,000 for not reporting Albany derailment
I pity them for having to keep up with all the different state and province regulatory whims. Maybe their should be one national report entity, which could then feed it to the state involved. Oh, shoot, that makes sense. Can’t be having none of that…
Mr. Kelly & Mr. Norton: Actually there is a 24/7 Statewide Operations center at NY State DOT Headquarters. Among their duties are dispatching personnel from the Rail Safety Bureau and, as necessary, contacting upper management at any hour of the day or night.
4:30 AM and not reported until 9:16 AM - should have been at 5:30AM. My goodness NY will have hire more help to be awake during the graveyard shift, but then they are always looking for reasons to do that.
Really, if this had been a day late maybe a fine is justified but this is petty and it cost NY more than the fine to do the paperwork associated with the fine.
New York government is barely up and running by 9:00. CP did them a favor.
$5000? Well that’ll teach 'em.
I mean, loosing .0000001% of my wealth would really bum me out.
Cash only no checks
It may be time for the Common Carrier Railroad Industry to start paying ball the way the Air Line Companies learned they have to play. When residents who live near an airport complains about the air plane noise, the airport or air lines go directly to the deed of the party who complain about the noise and they enter a ‘restrictive covenants’ to that deed that there is air plane noise associated with that residence. You can quickly learn how that can affect the value and sale value of that residence. The airport was there first.
To all the land owner along the CP RR in Albany and north thereof who complain about their fear of a train accidence, you are paying lower taxes because of your proximity to that railroad. If the railroad begins entering a ‘restrictive covenants’ to the deeds of these complainer, your property will surely be reduced further, thereby even lowering the taxes further. In another word you are being paid to put up with the fear of living near a common carrier interstate railroad. You can move anywhere you want to live away from the railroad and then pay at the tax rate for that location. The railroad was there long before any of you were born, and you live there because it is cheaper in value and taxes which is because of the proximity to the railroad. It is not like the railroad was newly built there.
If they shut off that crude oil flow; it will only be a short time before there is no gasoline to run our cars.
At a yard, no damage, no accident, no $$ numbers that warrant a call. Fixing this small mishap is what railroads do to AVOID mass OVER BLOWN headlines for common occurrences. Yes derails in yards at idle speeds happens.
While safety is important, company property and a no damage incident isnt worth getting the EPA over there for pictures for the NY Times…
Maybe this hits close to home for me… because it was close to home. I pass the Kenwood Yard each and every day, 7 days a week, sometimes 4 times a day. If there was an explosive ‘incident’ at the Kenwood yard, it is a good possibility that Albany NY would no longer be in existence… all government facilities and a whole lot of people would be gone… and many of those who live within the ‘incident’ zone are there because they are poor, not because they have a choice. This derailment happened less than 100’ from an apartment complex. No, this wasn’t a real problem this time, but what about next time? It was not hard to make a phone call within the hour – but they didn’t. I don’t live in the immediate area, but a phone call indicating a potential problem – before a ‘mere’ derailment became a problem – might allow thousands of people to get out of the area or avoid the area. There is enough highly explosive material densely packed together for unloading to become a real problem if a mere derailment turns into something worse quickly. One hour… make the call. {stepping down from soap box now}
I’d hate to be in Mr. Siebold’s dreams if he thinks four cars derailed (probably upright) with no leaks turning into an explosive situation, and having the ability to take out all of Albany. The military only has a few of those type of destructive weapons.
Mr. Achenbach… The Lac-Mégantic oil explosion wiped out just over 1/2 mile of the city. The center of Albany is less than 3/4 mile from Kenwood Yard… which often hosts over 200 mostly outdated tankers filled with highly combustible Bakken Crude, plus the storage tanks the crude oil is being pumped into. One ruptured tank car can indeed rival what our military can deliver with all those relatively thin-skinned cars sitting side by side.
We don’t allow LPG near city centers; we don’t allow other volatile materials to be stored near population centers… but Bakken Crude? No problem? And security? A simple chain link fence stands in the way of anyone wishing to enter the yard… and two sections, at least, have been pushed over for at least 3 months now. There is NO barrier between cars waiting their turn to enter the yard and a housing development. The tracks are basically in the back yards.
But, people are making money… so who cares?
Mr. Achenbach… The Lac-Mégantic oil explosion wiped out just over 1/2 mile of the city. The center of Albany is less than 3/4 mile from Kenwood Yard… which often hosts over 200 mostly outdated tankers filled with highly combustible Bakken Crude, plus the storage tanks the crude oil is being pumped into. One ruptured tank car can indeed rival what our military can deliver with all those relatively thin-skinned cars sitting side by side.
We don’t allow LPG near city centers; we don’t allow other volatile materials to be stored near population centers… but Bakken Crude? No problem? And security? A simple chain link fence stands in the way of anyone wishing to enter the yard… and two sections, at least, have been pushed over for at least 3 months now. There is NO barrier between cars waiting their turn to enter the yard and a housing development. The tracks are basically in the back yards.
But, people are making money… so who cares?
It doesnt matter if an accident is reported in 1 hour …or 4 hours. The fact is, it still happened! Its New York money grubbing fingers in the pie.