Train Accident Newsroom

Arcuri Addresses NYRI Power Line In Rail Safety Hearing

Washington, DC -- At a railroad safety hearing of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Material Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this afternoon, U.S. Representative Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) shed light on the potentially dangerous impact of placing high-voltage power lines like those proposed by New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) along railroad rights-of-way.

“I know all too well how critical it is to make sure that our freight and passenger railroads are compliant with safety requirements,” said Arcuri. “On March 12, 28 cars of a CSX freight train derailed in Oneida, NY- creating havoc and halting transportation. A month later the Federal Railroad Administration announced that it found 78 track defects. In this alarming climate, a private company is seeking to build a 190-mile high voltage direct current transmission line which would potentially run right along these very same railroad rights-of-way. Railroads are valuable to our commerce and our communities – but they must be safe and reliable”

The Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee held a hearing today on H.R. 2095, the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007 which would reauthorize rail safety programs and improve the Federal Railroad Administration. The last time the Federal Railroad Administration was reauthorized was in 1994 and it was allowed to expire in 1998.

In 2006, there were a total of 13,046 accidents and incidents involving railroads nationwide. There were 18 train derailments in Western New York between January 2005 and September 2006. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, the two leading causes of all train accidents are human factors, such as fatigue, and track defects.