In Response To Murray, Collins, Federal Railroad Administration To Fund Short Line Rail Safety Institute

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, announced today that the Federal Railroad Administration will award two grants totaling $350,000 to support the development of a Short Line Rail Safety Institute.  This initiative will help the short line and regional rail industry mitigate the risks associated with shipping crude oil and other hazardous materials while improving its overall safety record. 

The Short Line Rail Safety Institute has been proposed by Senators Murray and Collins as a way to enhance safety in the short line freight railroad industry, including the transportation of crude oil and ethanol.  On May 15, the two Senators sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx expressing support of the Institute, and in June, the two Senators introduced legislation to authorize the Institute. The Senate Transportation Subcommittee Fiscal Year 2015 bill recommends an additional $2 million for the Institute to conduct safety assessments for rail lines that transport crude oil and other highly hazardous cargo.

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 two miles or up to more than 1,000 miles long. 

“As we discussed when you testified before our Subcommittee, there is no silver bullet to improving rail safety.  It is a complicated multi-faceted issue involving prevention, mitigation, and response aspects,” Senators Murray and Collins wrote in their letter to Secretary Foxx.  “The proposed Short Line Railroad Safety Institute could be an important part of the larger solution and would help improve the safe transportation of crude oil and other hazardous materials.”  

These efforts followed an an April hearing held by Senators Murray and Collins to specifically focus on safety issues related to rail shipment of crude oil.  Secretary Foxx, then-National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman, Director of the Seattle Office of Emergency Management Barb Graff, and Rangeley, ME, Fire Chief Tim Pellerin, who led emergency response efforts after a train carrying crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in 2013, each testified at that hearing.  

Today’s announcement includes a $250,000 grant to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) to begin the pilot phase of safety culture assessments. Pilot testing will begin in January 2015 and will initially focus on the safety of crude oil transportation by rail. With the grant money, ASLRRA will:  

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the existing safety programs on short line and regional railroads (e.g., compliance requirements of FRA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration);

• Use tools developed by the University of Connecticut to identify areas of non-compliance and help railroads develop a culture of commitment to railroad safety; and

• Provide access to effective safety training processes, programs and resources.

• Develop large libraries of training tools, technical materials and other educational resources to assist small railroads in instilling a culture of safety.

The University of Connecticut also received a $100,000 grant to conduct initial work that will focus on the development, testing and validation of safety education, training and development for managers and employees.