As little as $1 million, which would double the federal government’s present funding for railroad bridge inspectors could go a long way toward preventing “catastrophic” derailments, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D.-Scranton) said this week.
The Federal Railroad Administration employs six bridge inspectors and one supervisor responsible for covering some 77,000 railroad bridges nationwide, of which Pennsylvania has about 900, 93 of which are rail bridges. These bridges fall under the purview of a lone inspector who must examine spans in other states as well.
The senator’s proposal would add seven inspectors, a merited increase, according to Casey, since trains are carrying crude oil across the country more frequently out of the Bakken formation in North Dakota.
“One of these tanker cars falling off of one of these bridges would be beyond catastrophic,” Casey said.
In mid-July, a train traveling through Montana with crude oil derailed and leaked 35,000 gallons of oil, said an Associated Press report, and in February, more than 3 million gallons of oil spilled in West Virginia due to a derailment, resulting in a fire and mass evacuations.
Casey said he supports a variety of increased precautions for crude oil transport, including increasing the number of bridge inspectors. “These specialists [are] charged with making sure that these train bridges are safe,” Casey said, “and the investment we’ve made in their work is inadequate.”
“The Federal Railroad Administration is in the process of re-evaluating its current bridge management program to identity what more, if anything, can be done with our current level of funding and resources, which is limited,” spokesperson Michael Booth said in a statement.
