Legislation in Congress, Minnesota Legislature aims to address railway safety and emergency response
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The latest train derailment in Raymond, Minnesota, is renewing calls from lawmakers to pass stronger safety rules to prevent derailments in the first place and improve response if there's an emergency.
BNSF Railway in a statement said approximately 22 cars containing ethanol, which highly flammable, and corn syrup went off the tracks around 1 a.m. Thursday. Four of the cars caught fire and the town was evacuated before authorities authorized residents' return in the afternoon.
The same time the derailed train burned Thursday morning, a bill designed to prepare for similar incidents in the future was officially introduced in the Minnesota Legislature.
State Sen. Rob Kupec, DFL-Moorhead, co-authored a proposal requiring new training and emergency-response planning for rail accidents involving oil or other hazardous materials.
"Those crucial moments right after a derailment is not the time you want to be saying, 'well I don't know who should be doing this,'" he said. "This bill spells it out in a lot more detail."
RELATED: Residents returning after Raymond train derailment say they're glad things weren't worse
Thankfully, the train in Raymond was clear of toxic substances. But that wasn't the case for the derailment of another train East Palestine, Ohio, where the community is still reeling from the impacts more than a month later. Residents have reported feeling ill since it happened.
This Minnesota legislation requires rail carriers notify emergency responders within 15 minutes of spilling dangerous cargo. Kupec believes the Raymond incident underscores the need to be better prepared.
"I think the important thing about this bill is it brings in people before anything happens, so everybody knows their role should an incident occur," he added. "And if an incident does occur, it spells out in a little more detail what the timeframe is and who should be doing what in case something happens."
Meanwhile in Washington, there's growing bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for rail safety legislation there.
The Railway Safety Act of 2023, which has Democrats and Republicans sponsoring it, requires more regular inspections, advance notice if there's hazardous materials on board, and crews of at least two people per train.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who's been pushing for these changes, said in an interview that she is more optimistic than ever the bill will pass.
"I'm so glad that people are back in their homes and that we didn't have the toxic chemicals," she said of the accident in western Minnesota. "We should all be breathing a sigh of relief, but we don't know what could happen next."
She highlighted that the bill also increases fines for safety violations. The legislation also requires new regulations for "defect detectors," including one to spot if wheel bearings overheat and are on the brink of failure.
The National Transportation Safety Board in a preliminary report found that to be the case in East Palestine.
"We want to be making stuff in America and exporting it to the world," Klobuchar said. "That's all good, but to get it to market, you've got to have safe rail lines and that means having up-to-date standards that reflect what they're carrying right now."
A hearing for the bill in the state legislature is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday afternoon. Provisions in it empower emergency managers or the state commissioner of public safety to request information from rail companies about the types of hazardous material transported through a community in the previous year.
"Maybe that helps them know what they need to stock up for, certain types of equipment to deal with [certain materials]," Kupec said.
