The recent explosive train accident in Ohio has led to a closer examination of safety measures on railroads nationwide, including in Montana. Throughout the years, Montana has witnessed numerous high-profile derailments, further intensifying this scrutiny.
Since the derailment, the public’s concern about potential similar incidents in their communities has thrust an otherwise inconspicuous industry into the national spotlight. Bipartisan lawmakers have introduced legislation in Congress to enhance the safety of the nation’s railroads, despite the industry’s reassurances that 99% of hazardous materials transported by rail reach their destination without any problems.
However, concerns regarding rail safety in Montana have been longstanding, particularly since a decade ago when there was a surge in the transportation of fossil fuels from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. This increase in train traffic raised apprehensions about the potential consequences if one of these trains were to derail.
A HISTORY OF TRAIN WRECKS
On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train traveling through East Palestine, Ohio, about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, derailed and caught fire.
Norfolk Southern is one of North America’s “Big Seven” Class I railroads that own and operate the vast majority of track in North America. Also among the Big Seven is BNSF Railway, which controls more than half of Montana’s rail lines, and will have even more by year’s end when it reassumes control of track currently operated byMontana Rail Link, which had leased the line from BNSF predecessor Burlington Northern in the 1980s. Another Class I railroad, Union Pacific, also operates in Montana, though its footprint in the state is much smaller.
The derailment in East Palestine was one of more than 1,000 train derailments that occur in the United States annually, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, the vast majority of which are minor and never make headlines. Among the 38 cars that derailed in East Palestine, five were carrying vinyl chloride, a hazardous material used to make plastic products. Three days after the derailment, those cars were still burning and emergency officials grew concerned they might explode. To avoid that, the railroad conducted a “controlled release” whereby the material was dumped and then burned, sending a thick black plume of smoke over the evacuated community.
Within hours of the train’s derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team of investigators to the site to determine what happened. While the full investigation is expected to take months, an initial review by the NTSB found that the East Palestine derailment was likely caused by a defect with one of the train’s freight cars. Since the Feb. 3 derailment, the NTSB has sent investigators to two other incidents involving Norfolk Southern in Ohio, including one last week where an employee was killed. On March 7, the NTSB announced that it was opening a rare “special investigation” into Norfolk Southern’s safety culture.
According to the Association of American Railroads, the collective representation of major railroads, the overall safety of railroads has improved in recent decades. From 2000 onwards, there has been a significant decrease of 31% in derailments. However, there was a slight rise in such incidents between 2021 and 2022. Additionally, the trade group highlights that 99% of hazardous material shipments successfully reach their intended destinations without any issues.
However, this is not always true, even in Montana, where there have been several notable derailments, some of which were even explosive, in the past 35 years.
On Feb. 2, 1989, 49 cars from a Montana Rail Link freight train rolled down Mullan Pass and crashed into locomotives sitting near Carroll College in Helena. Three of the cars that derailed contained hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol and acetone. Those cars caught fire and later exploded, shattering windows across Helena and forcing the evacuation of more than 3,500 people. Two railroad employees were injured.
Just six months later, on July 31, 1989, a Burlington Northern train derailed above Whitefish Lake, sending four tank cars into Mackinaw Bay, spilling between 20,000 and 25,000 gallons of fuel. Burlington Northern and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality spent months excavating soil from the site, but 20 years later additional cleanup was needed when a new soil sample from the site contained petroleum hydrocarbons.
On April 11, 1996, all 400 residents of Alberton, plus an additional 600 from the surrounding area, had to be evacuated when a Montana Rail Link train derailed before dawn due to a broken rail. One car containing chlorine exploded, releasing 130,000 pounds of the poison gas into the air. A transient riding the train died from acute chlorine toxicity and approximately 350 people were treated for chlorine inhalation.
More recently, on Sept. 25, 2021, three people were killed when Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train derailed on a remote stretch of track west of Havre. It was the deadliest railroad accident in the United States in four years. Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board released a trove of documents relating to the wreck that suggested it might have been caused by a track defect. A full report into the wreck is expected to be released in the coming months.
RAILROADING’S BIG OIL BOOM
Every month, over 40,000 carloads of chemicals, petroleum, and petroleum-related products are transported on America’s railways, as reported by the Association of American Railroads. The “common carrier” obligation, a federal provision, mandates that railroads must transport any material that a customer contracts for, even if it includes hazardous materials.
Crude oil has been a commonly transported commodity by railroads for a long time. Initially, in the mid-2000s, American railroads were moving around 6,000 oil cars per year. However, starting in the early 2010s, this number experienced a significant surge due to the Bakken oil boom in eastern Montana and North Dakota. In 2013, the quantity of crude oil being transported by railroads escalated to over 400,000 carloads.
The sudden increase in oil transportation by rail went unnoticed by many until a tragic incident occurred in Quebec during the summer of 2013. On July 6, 2013, an out-of-control oil train derailed and caused a massive explosion in the small town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. This devastating event resulted in the loss of 47 lives and the destruction of a significant portion of the downtown area. The Lac-Mégantic tragedy marked the beginning of a series of explosive derailments involving oil trains throughout North America during the 2010s.
In response to these incidents, both the United States and Canada took action and mandated that railroads replace their older tank cars with newer ones. The objective was to reduce the likelihood of ruptures and subsequent accidents. This replacement program is still ongoing.
In the Bakken region, a significant amount of oil was being produced and transported westward through Montana. By 2014, approximately twelve oil trains were passing through the state each week, heading towards refineries on the West Coast. Concerns arose when it became evident that many of these trains traveled near the southern border of Glacier National Park. People started to worry about the potential consequences if one of these trains were to derail or catch fire within the park. One of the individuals who expressed their concerns was Jeff Mow, the then-superintendent of Glacier National Park. Mow had prior experience dealing with oil spills, as he had participated in the investigation of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 and had also served as a Department of Interior incident commander during the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
“There would be severe consequences of a derailment near the park, whether it sparkes a fire or spills oil,” Mow told the Flathead Beacon in 2014. “We need to be prepared for it.”
Soon after, BNSF began creating a “Geographical Response Plan” for how it would respond to an oil train derailment near Glacier National Park. Today, the railroad has numerous such plans targeted at environmentally sensitive areas across Montana and the West.
According to Lena Kent, a representative from BNSF, the company has established a comprehensive system to handle derailments and spills. They have a team of over 150 hazardous materials responders and advisers strategically positioned. Additionally, they have emergency response equipment, including containment booms, stored in more than 100 locations throughout their extensive 32,000-mile rail network. BNSF also conducts training sessions both online and in-person across their network, ensuring that first responders are well-prepared to handle railroad accidents. Kent mentioned that the company trains an estimated 3,000 to 10,000 individuals every year.
Kent stated that BNSF is dedicated to establishing close collaboration with first responders in the unlikely scenario of an incident taking place.
Kent declined to comment on how many oil trains travel through Montana on BNSF presently, or what other hazardous materials the railroad moves, citing security. However, data from the Association of American Railroads suggests that the number of oil trains passing places like Glacier National Park has dropped since the mid-2010s, especially as more pipelines were constructed. In 2014, during the Bakken oil boom, U.S. railroads were originating more than 493,000 carloads of crude oil annually. But by 2021, that had dropped to just over 91,000 carloads.
Although BNSF has refrained from making a public statement regarding the quantity of hazardous material it transports within the state, it is obligated by law to disclose this information to states. Moreover, this information is also shared with emergency responders. Additionally, the industry has developed an application that allows first responders to determine the contents of a specific car in the event of a derailment.
Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino, who also holds the position of the county’s emergency services director, is one of the individuals who would react to a train accident. Heino stated that his office conducts regular training sessions and tabletop exercises with BNSF throughout the year to be prepared for a potential derailment. Recently, on February 8, BNSF organized a training session near Flathead Lake to educate participants on the necessary actions to take in the event of a train fuel spill on an ice-covered river or lake.
Heino acknowledged that incidents such as the recent derailment in Ohio cause him concern. He also recognized the difficulty in being fully prepared for every potential scenario. However, he expressed confidence in his team’s readiness to handle a derailment if it were to occur in Flathead County.
He said that with adequate preparation and training, he believes we have an effective plan in place in case there is an incident here.
One group that is keeping a close eye on the movement of hazardous materials through northwestern Montana is Oil Safe Flathead, a coalition of conservation groups raising awareness about the movement of oil-by-rail through the region. The group, which is a project of the Flathead Lakers, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the watershed, has called on BNSF to increase inspections of its rail line along the Flathead River as well as build more infrastructure to protect trains from avalanches. The group has also questioned how realistic it would be to contain oil spilled into the Flathead River, especially if the river was running fast and high.
According to Onno Wieringa, the president of the board of directors for the Flathead Lakers, incidents like the East Palestine event serve as a reminder of the hazardous materials being transported by rail throughout the nation. While Wieringa acknowledged that his group cannot halt the transportation of oil-by-rail through environmentally vulnerable regions, they can advocate for companies like BNSF to prioritize safety. Additionally, Wieringa commended BNSF for their diligent efforts in maintaining an effective avalanche forecasting program on Marias Pass, which has previously caused disruptions to the rail line.
According to Wieringa, a company like BNSF has no intention of derailing a train.
NEW OVERSIGHT IN WAKE OF OHIO WRECK
The Federal Railroad Administration, a department within the U.S. Department of Transportation, is responsible for regulating and supervising railroads. This agency has a team of inspectors located throughout the country, whose main duty is to examine various aspects of rail transportation such as locomotives, rolling stock, track conditions, signals, grade crossings, and more.
FRA inspectors collaborate with state inspectors, including Daniel Sherwood, the Railroad Program Manager of the Montana Public Service Commission. The PSC has two rail inspectors, one in Helena and one in Billings, who have the authority to conduct inspections on Montana’s 3,680 miles of track. Currently, the PSC’s inspections focus on locomotives and cars to ensure compliance with federal standards. In 2022, the PSC’s two inspectors spent a total of 202 days in the field, resulting in 268 inspection reports. These inspections identified 1,146 defects, leading to one violation fine. Sherwood defines a defect as any condition that does not comply with federal regulations, and fines are only imposed for egregious defects. In 2021, PSC inspectors discovered 1,382 defects but did not issue any fines. In 2020, there were 1,171 reported defects, resulting in two violation fines in the state.
According to Kent, the BNSF representative, the railroad conducts routine inspections on its entire network, which includes locomotives, freight cars, track, and bridges. These inspections are carried out by both human inspectors and autonomous technology. Additionally, railroads utilize “defect detectors” to identify issues on trains passing by, such as overheated wheel bearings. The initial investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board suggests that these overheated wheel bearings may have been the cause of the derailment in Ohio.
According to the Association of American Railroads, most Class I railroads have hot bearing detectors no less than 40 miles apart, though in many instances the detectors are even closer together. Following the Ohio incident, however, the Association of American Railroads announced that its member railroads would begin spacing the detectors every 15 miles on key routes. The organization estimated that the industry would end up installing 1,000 new detectors across the country as a result of its renewed effort to have “zero incidents and zero injuries.”
That “zero incidents” goal comes as pressure builds on the industry as a whole, especially in Washington D.C., where bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would put new regulations on railroads. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 was unveiled by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, with the baking of four other senators from both parties. The bill would require defect detectors to be spaced every 10 miles, establish new inspection protocols, increase safety violation fines and require at least two crew members on every freight train. The last part will likely draw ire from railroad executives, who have said in the past that with the right technology they believe trains can be run with just one person. But unions and many railroaders in the field disagree, saying two people onboard can respond to problems faster. In fact, train crew size was a major sticking point during last year’s contentious labor contract talks that almost ended in a nationwide rail strike.
Already, officials with the Association of American Railroads have signaled that they would not support the new regulations proposed in Congress, telling The Hill they didn’t believe the proposals would have prevented the Ohio wreck. However, President Joe Biden has said he will sign the act into law if it arrives at his desk.
As of now, the congress members from Montana have refrained from expressing their stance on the proposal. The representatives of Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Sen. Steve Daines stated that the senators are currently examining the legislation. A spokesperson for Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke mentioned that he would contemplate the legislation if it is presented in the House of Representatives. Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale did not provide any comment when approached for his opinion prior to the publication of this article.
The saying “the rules have been written in blood” is well-known in the railroading industry and is attributed to a 1901 report by the Michigan Railroad Commission. This saying emphasizes the idea that change only occurs when someone is injured or killed. This concept still holds true in the modern era. In September 2008, a tragic incident occurred near Los Angeles where a commuter train collided head-on with a freight train, resulting in the loss of 25 lives. As a response to this catastrophe, Congress swiftly passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which mandated the implementation of crash-prevention technology now referred to as Positive Train Control. It remains uncertain whether the recent wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, will prompt a similar reaction and lead to necessary changes in rail safety regulations.
