Frequent train crashes spark investigation
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating three train accidents, including a derailment this week, on a stretch of track that runs through New London and Windham counties.
The investigation will take three months to six months to complete, said Warren Flatau, a senior public affairs specialist at the Washington, D.C.-based agency.
“This is the type of thing that draws our attention,” Flatau said Friday of the three derailments, including a March 11 accident in which four tankers carrying ethanol toppled into a wooded area off Plains Road in Windham and a May 12 mishap in which nine cars from a Providence & Worcester Railroad freight train jumped the tracks near Route 12 in Lisbon.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation also is taking a “active interest” in the accidents, Flatau said.
“It is the jurisdiction of the FRA, but we want to observe and will do anything they ask us to do,” state DOT spokesman Kevin Nursic said.
The federal agency will use a “data-driven process” to determine what action should be taken, Flatau said.
“It doesn’t mean there’s a systemic problem,” he said. “But it’s obvious that there are concerns here.”
The six cars that overturned in a rail yard off Main Street in Willimantic Tuesday were each carrying as much as 30,000 gallons of ethanol, although none of it spilled. Cleanup began immediately.
Four cars were placed back on the tracks and moved from the site. About 25,000 gallons of ethanol in each of the two remaining cars were offloaded into waiting tanker cars on adjacent tracks, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. That work was completed Wednesday.
The freight cars are owned by the Vermont-based New England Central Railroad and work was done by R.J. Corman of Albany, N.Y.
Providence & Worcester Railroad Secretary and General Counsel Marie Angelini earlier this week blamed “track conditions ... on that particular section of that track on that particular day” for the March and May accidents. She couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
FRA grant
Sprague First Selectman Catherine Osten is seeking a $6.6 million grant from the FRA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, that would boost safety and economic development on the stretch of track known as the Willimantic branch.
Following contacts with two manufacturing companies interested in locating facilities near rail lines in Sprague, Osten filed for the grant last month. She plans to testify before a state group in New Haven this month, hoping to get greater support for upgrading freight rail lines. Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon, who heads the transportation committee of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, also is slated to speak.
Osten said she would welcome a discussion with Connecticut’s new transportation commissioner after that person is selected by Governor-elect Dan Malloy.
“The state clearly needs to be on board,” she said. “We can’t just talk about jobs and safety. We have to do things to create them.”
State DOT wants more freight moved off highways and onto rail lines, Nursic said. It would reduce stress on highways and improve safety, he said.
‘Has to be done’
Osten is gathering support from leaders in Eastern Connecticut, including the head of a regional economic development agency.
“It would have a pretty significant impact,” said John Markowicz, executive director of the New London-based Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region. “Something has to be done or that line might be shut down. That would definitely hurt commerce.”
Providence & Worcester Railroad has a maintenance garage in Plainfield. The company and state DOT are “very responsive” to derailments and other safety issues, but Plainfield First Selectman Paul Sweet said things could be improved. He expressed concern about local firefighters not knowing what is contained in tanker cars.
“I can understand the concern about derailments,” he said. “Commerce needs to continue; we all agree on that. More communication is always a good thing.”
