TSA Will Start Monitoring Railroad Freight Cars
Posted by
IB ContributorJanuary 25, 2007 1:18 AMThe Transportation Security Administration for the first time, will start a nationwide tracking system to determine how long rail cars filled with toxic chemicals are stopped on tracks or sit in unsecured storage yards in urban areas, according to an article in USA Today by Thomas Frank.
TSA officials say unguarded rail cars filled with toxic chemicals such as chlorine in cities are the single biggest terrorist threat.
According to the U. S. Naval Research Lab, an attack on such a rail car could kill 100,000 people. Railroads carry 105,000 carloads of toxic chemicals a year, and 1.6 million carloads of other hazardous materials such as explosives and radioactive items, the government says.
This announcement comes as many cities are considering banning or restricting hazardous rail shipments. Local officials fear attacks and accidents like the fiery train derailment last week near Louisville that spewed toxic smoke and forced people to evacuate from their homes, businesses and a school. And that one was the second such accident in Kentucky in just two days.
This is a frightening scenario. The fact that we had these freight cars filled with toxic chemicals passing through our homes, schools and workplaces - unmonitored and unnoticed - this is scary. Why is it that our governmental agencies, that we pay millions to support, do not move on safety issues until we have some type of disaster? What disaster will occur next that our governmental agencies are aware of the possibilities of but are doing nothing about?
What's more, the government is only now starting to wake up to the potential for danger that's inherent in such a mode of transport for toxic chemicals. And as the government is sitting on millions of our tax dollars, it is the citizens who are at risk of breathing in toxins and inhaling known carcinogens.
Be it train accidents, toxic chemical exposure or any type of injury that may have been caused by someone's negligence, even a governmental agency, give me a call and let's talk about it and your options.