US hazmat railcar issue needs local fix – STB

11 September 2007 00:27  [Source: ICIS news]

By John Waggoner

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Planning the US transition to safer new rail cars will require a grassroots solution, possibly even with funding at the local government level, Chip Nottingham, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) said on Monday.

“The best planning is from the local government,” Nottingham said of hazardous materials cargoes in general.

Chemical companies, tank car manufacturers and regulators are working on a new tank car standard for hazardous materials cargoes. The new tank cars may be ready for roll-out across the industry within two years, but it has not yet been decided how the transition will be funded.

“It’s a challenge that the whole country faces, which is the enormous infrastructure investments needed for the rail sector,” he said.

He said the STB, as a regulator, does not take a position on proposed legislation. But he said one proposal currently being considered for funding the transition to safer cars is a railroad infrastructure tax.

“The US rail system is the most efficient in the world and taxpayers aren’t asked to pay much for it,” he said.

Another possible solution could include public-private partnerships. The California state municipality of Long Beach recently implemented such a measure where the cost of infrastructure was split roughly three ways among federal government, local government and the private sector, he said.

For the private sector, part of the cost of converting to the new cars could be borne by lower insurance premiums, which are currently so high that some shippers have indicated they don’t want to handle hazardous materials at all.

“They can’t turn down customers but they don’t want to pay the high insurance premiums,” Nottingham said.

Rerouting of rail lines is a separate federal mandate approved earlier this year that requires railroads to consider building new hazardous materials routes outside the main population areas.

Nottingham said that shifting railroad transport of the materials outside the major cities is controversial because some segments of society claim doing so would simply shift public concern about safety to smaller communities without necessarily making the transport any safer.

“Our number one concern is public safety,” said Joe Arbona, director of public affairs for Union Pacific Railroad. “One problem with re-routing is that that the distance becomes longer, which may not be safer.”

By: John Waggoner
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