Mayor Brummel has added his signature to a letter from the National League of Cities (NLC) asking Congress to improve rail safety after the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on February 6.
Key points of the NLC's letter include recommendations to:
- Increase local first responders’ use of the “AskRail” phone app to provide better information as they arrive on the scene of a rail incident
- Provide Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) data to assess the risk of hazardous materials moving on fewer, longer trains, and target safety oversight
- Ensure financial fines are used first for the community impacted
- Expedite rail safety improvements and technology tools to reduce rail deaths and derailments
- Expand the list of hazardous materials that are reported to state and local first responders
- Invest in local experimentation for improving signs and signals that reduce costs and increase safety
- Support the NTSB’s experts and pass their recommendations
- Set the expectation for America’s railroads to be good neighbors
Additional information is available at: https://www.nlc.org/article/2023/03/03/cities-ask-congress-to-act-on-rail-safety/
More about railroad safety:
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) creates and enforces rail safety regulations. The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has also established laws regarding general safety requirements for rail carriers within Illinois. Learn more:
1. FRA’s Safety Management Teams serve as the main safety liaison to the Nation's railroads: https://railroads.dot.gov/divisions/regional-offices/safety-management-teams
2. ICC administers and enforces general safety requirements for track, facilities and equipment belonging to rail carriers within Illinois: https://www.icc.illinois.gov/rail-safety
3. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) plans, constructs, operates, and maintains of Illinois' extensive transportation network, which includes rail freight, and rail passenger systems: https://idot.illinois.gov/transportation-system/Network-Overview/rail-system/index