(Washington, D.C. – August 29, 2012)
A trio of Democratic U.S. senators, alarmed by several high-profile railroad accidents in the past several weeks, have called upon the Government Accountability Office to launch a review of safety procedures followed by U.S. freight and passenger railroad systems.
Senators Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Dick Durbin of Illinois, all Democrats, spurred by a CSX coal train derailment near Baltimore, MD August 21 that killed two teenage girl bystanders as well as a July 4 coal train derailment in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook which caused a bridge to collapse upon a well-respected attorney and his wife, a retired educator, killing both, want a complete study of the procedures employed by the Federal railroad Administration, state rail regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders in their cooperative ventures to achieve rail safety.
“Our railways strengthen the economy by moving goods and people across the country, and we cannot overlook the critical role that safety plays in keeping our rail system moving,” said Senator Lautenberg, adding that the 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act “took important steps to address rail safety, but recent accidents have shown the need to continue examining safety and reducing the risk of accidents and fatalities.”
