Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today Senator Murray and I are introducing legislation to enhance the safety practices and safety culture of short line railroads. The horrific derailment that occurred in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, last year, just 30 miles from the Maine border, brought to light the importance of ensuring the safe transportation of energy products. Specifically, our bill would authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to a new Short Line Safety Institute for research, development, evaluation, and training efforts.

In the early morning hours of July 6, 2013, a freight train carrying hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil was sent hurtling toward the small, picturesque Canadian village of Lac-Megantic. The train derailed in the center of town, leveling several blocks, and killing 47 residents. Since the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Transportation have been working with American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association to develop new safety guidelines to prevent future disasters.

While this tragedy hit very close to home for us Mainers, there have been several other derailments of crude oil and other hazardous material recently across the country. Despite these incidents, the railroad industry maintains it has a strong safety record. According to the Association of American Railroads, 99.997 percent of rail hazmat shipments reached their destination without a release of product. This underscores the problem we face today we must ensure that we are taking the necessary steps to prevent another Lac-Megantic, while not overburdening an industry that has a proven track record of safety.

There are 550 short line railroad companies that operate over 50,000 miles of track, or nearly one third of the national railroad network. The tracks can be as short as 2 miles or up to more than 1,000 miles long. Generally, short line railroads must follow the same rules and regulations as the Nation's major railroads. But railroad safety is about more than just following the rules. Our bill would authorize the Short Line Safety Institute, under the Federal Railroad Administration's research and development programs, to provide a continuous and active focus on short line safety to assist individual short lines to improve their safety performance. It would allow for the hiring of professional assessment staff who would work with individual short line managers and their employees to assess and improve safety practices. Safety training materials and techniques would be developed, and efforts would be made to further increase management and employee focus on creating a safety culture.

Short line railroads are mostly small businesses with far fewer employees than the Class I railroads. In addition, most of the employees have multiple responsibilities, stretching their time and resources thin. Furthermore, a large percentage of short line railroad resources go into track rehabilitation, which limits the resources available for other areas. This bill would allow short line railroad management to continually work with their employees using the most up to date methods to ensure safe operations. It would also improve awareness of industry best practices, both in general and with regard to specific commodities such as crude oil.

For those in rural America, short line railroads are a critical link to the national railroad network. Most are preserving light density lines that otherwise would have been abandoned, leaving thousands of small shippers in the lurch. They do their best to provide an essential service as safely as possible; however, with assistance, they believe they can do better, and establishing a Short Line Safety Institute is a cost effective way to do so. The concept merits our support, and I am pleased to introduce this legislation with Senator Murray to help make this concept a reality.

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