High-profile chemical spills on rails, roads prompt transport concerns

Recent chemical spills on the nation’s roads and rails, including from a fiery train derailment this month in northeast Ohio, have spurred questions about the safety of transporting toxic chemicals on long distances and through American towns.

While images of flames and overturned rail cars near the Pennsylvania border highlighted the consequences of crashes, transportation officials and experts say there’s no indication of a rise in such events. Despite the high-profile spills, federal data shows chemical leaks while in transit are happening less often. The number of hazmat incidents resulting from crashes or derailments across all modes of transportation fell to 80 last year, down from more than 360 a decade ago.

“Hazmat accidents in general in the U.S. are very rare,” said Allan Zarembski, director of the Railway Engineering and Safety Program at the University of Delaware. “And when they occur, a lot of them are small and nowhere near as big as this one.”

In the Feb. 3 derailment, a train carrying vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials prompted the evacuation of East Palestine, Ohio, as authorities feared an explosion. The incident followed a Jan. 27 derailment in northern Louisiana, where the leak of 10,000 gallons of “acid-related products” prompted an evacuation within a half-mile radius. On Tuesday, a truck traveling near Tucson spilled nitric acid when it crashed, forcing an evacuation and extended highway closure.

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The incidents have refocused concerns about potentially toxic materials being transported through the rail tracks and highways that crisscross American cities and rural areas as freight deliveries continue to grow. Environmental advocates for years have pushed for more limits on the movement of hazardous materials through populated areas, while some policymakers have sought more safety measures.

Some groups, such as the Denver-based Public Interest Network, say Americans living near rail tracks “are rightfully concerned about how the vinyl chloride and other chemicals that potentially went up in flames may adversely impact their health and environment.”

Transportation officials and experts say the recent incidents are a reminder of the risks, but they point to regulations and technological improvements that have enhanced safety - particularly on the nation’s rails. Those enhancements include the use of devices on tracks that identify derailment risks and upgraded rail cars that can better withstand crashes.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said his agency was fully supporting an investigation on the Ohio derailment led by the National Transportation Safety Board. He said the federal government will “use all relevant authorities to ensure accountability and continue to support safety.”

In Ohio, 20 cars in the 141-car train were carrying hazardous materials, 11 of which derailed, the NTSB said Tuesday, along with 27 cars carrying nonhazardous cargo. Five of the cars carried toxic and highly flammable vinyl chloride.

Local officials this week were urging residents to use bottled water until testing indicated tap water was safe to drink.

The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which sets regulations and tracks hazmat incidents in transportation, reported year-over-year declines in derailment and vehicular crash incidents, as well as fewer fatalities and injuries from hazmat events in the past decade. The largest share of incidents - 58 of 80 last year - occurred on highways, while the second-most occurred on railroads. It is unclear if chemical spills were involved in each case.

Federal Railroad Administration data shows hazardous chemicals were released during 10 train incidents nationwide last year. In the past decade, releases of hazardous materials peaked at 20 in both 2018 and 2020. Derailments in general, federal data shows, have also been trending downward.

FRA spokesman Warren Flatau said the industry follows strict rules to ensure that incidents like the one in Ohio are infrequent.

“There is multilayered regulatory oversight of rail hazmat transport, which has been highly effective over time,” he said.

Commercial carriers of hazardous materials follow detailed protocols regarding their shipment.

For railroads, certain classes of hazardous materials can only be shipped in specially designed tank cars. Large shipments of hazardous materials are subject to special rules, including route restrictions. Railroads also set speed limits and training requirements for handling such materials. Train crew members aren’t required to have special licenses to transport hazardous products.

Among regulations for the transport of hazmat shipments, hazmat rail cars are required to be marked, while train crews must carry documentation of each hazmat tank and their position, as well as a manifest of materials on board. They also must follow inspection, testing, loading and offloading procedures.

“There are numerous other requirements governing track, mechanical equipment, signal and train control systems, and operating practices,” Flatau wrote in an email. “As a result, the vast majority of hazmat commodities shipped by rail each year arrive at their destination safely and without incident.”

Under FRA rules, railroads are required to use software that helps transport crude oil and other sensitive materials along the safest routes. The software takes into account 27 factors, among them the population, length of the trip, the number of river crossings and the speed at which the train would move. State emergency preparedness officials receive prior notice of some hazmat movements under federal emergency and homeland security rules.

Similarly, commercial truckers carrying hazardous materials must keep a detailed description of their cargo and report any incidents to federal authorities. Drivers are required to have a “hazardous materials endorsement” on their commercial license to operate a truck carrying hazmat in commerce. States issue the endorsement to drivers who receive additional testing. Drivers are also required to have special training, including on emergency response, inspections, and on properly loading and unloading materials.

While at least two hazmat incidents have occurred this year on the nation’s rails, the FRA said it will be weeks before it has data about any other incidents from this year because railroads have 30 days from the end of a month in which the incident occurs to file a report.

The NTSB said Tuesday that the tank cars in Ohio were being decontaminated before investigators could make a thorough examination. The vinyl chloride tank cars’ top fittings, including the relief valves, have been removed and secured in a locked container pending NTSB examination, officials said.

Investigators probing the Ohio derailment of the Norfolk Southern train, which caused no injuries, have said it was probably caused by mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles. The NTSB on Tuesday said surveillance video shows a wheel bearing in the “final stage of overheat failure” moments before the derailment. Investigators have collected the wheelset for an examination at its Washington lab as the probe continues.

An overheated bearing is probably the most common cause of a failed axle in a derailment, Zarembski said. In recent years, he said, railroads, including Norfolk Southern, have added sophisticated devices on tracks that measure the temperature of the bearings to determine whether there is a risk of overheating that could cause a derailment. Norfolk Southern didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday about its hazmat operations.

One question he said that researchers, investigators and the railroad will be asking: “Can we make the implementation and analysis of that information more effective, so we can prevent these things from happening in the future?”