Infrastructure: Railroads, officials must focus on safety
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It's beginning to look as though our neglect of the nation's railway infrastructure -- and our government's relationship with the rail industry -- is catching up with us. Well, here in Appalachia, anyway. But isn't that always the way?
After a recent series of unsettling incidents in Ohio involving Norfolk Southern Corp. (two derailments and a conductor killed in an unrelated accident), CSX Transportation is now dealing with the aftermath of a derailment and subsequent diesel fuel spill into the New River in Summers County.
In this case, the four locomotives and 22 empty coal cars left the tracks. Three crewmembers were hurt. The accident was caused by the empty train hitting a rockslide that had not been spotted in time.
According to the Associated Press, CSX said employee and community safety was a top priority as it sends teams to assess the situation and develop a recovery plan. Meanwhile, the site of the derailment -- which is inside the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve -- is being monitored by state agencies, and public water systems downstream have been notified to watch for any potential public health impacts.
Our nation's freight rail infrastructure has been referred to by some experts as "antiquated." Maintenance and modernization have been a slow process at best. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the mostly privately owned freight rail system a B grade back in 2021. (Not too shabby when you view it beside the C and D the ASCE gave our nation's bridges and roads, but not the A our public safety demands).
Couple that with loosened federal railway regulations, and you have a recipe for an increasing number of incidents that will pile up in a way these companies don't have the resources to make right.
To be fair, railroads in West Virginia have as many turns and ups and down as our roads, as many of them follow our winding rivers. And it is possible the rockslide that caused Wednesday's derailment was simply too recent an occurrence to be noticed in time.
But the number of recent incidents in our region should certainly give both railroad and governmental officials pause. Have we done enough? Could these have been prevented? If there is any hesitation in answering such questions, railroad companies are duty bound to take action; and government agencies are duty bound to hold them accountable.