UPPER DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY— With the Ohio toxic train derailment in the national news, questions about rail safety in the Upper Delaware have once again come to the forefront. The regional rail line that spans the 73.4 miles of the upper section of the Delaware River is owned by Norfolk Southern. This article is the first in a series that will explore safety protocals, historic derailments, and the coordination and communication between the national, state and county emergency management agencies that help ensure railroad safety and respond to emergencies.

Setting the stage

On February 3, just before 9 p.m. Eastern Time, a Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed near East Palestine, OH, and although no injuries were reported, about three dozen of the 150 rail cars came off the tracks. Eleven of them were carrying hazardous materials.

According to published reports, five of the derailed cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a man-made substance that is a major component in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), plastic resin used in construction and health care products. It is transported in the form of a compressed liquid.

Based upon research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, inhalation of vinyl chloride can cause a variety of respiratory symtoms, while long-term exposure to high levels has been linked to liver damage and cancer.

After the railroad performed a controlled venting and burn of chemicals from the rail cars, which released substances including hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the atmosphere, officials declared the area safe. But local residents are complaining of  ill-health effects from the incident; reports of sick livestock and dead aquatic life from contaminated water­ways are making the national news; and some experts are questioning the adequacy of the testing on which the all-clear has been based.

In 1982, the Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class I freight carrier, was formed with the merger of three rail systems: Norfolk, Western Railway, and Southern Railway, and today operates a freight run in the Delaware River Valley, usually once a day.

According to an opinion article published on February 17 in the New York Times, “the number of derailments has declined since the 1970s, but the United States still has over 1,000 derailments every year. And over the last seven years, the costs from derailments of trains carrying hazardous materials increased.”

At a glance—the local link

In 1997, the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) commissioned an Emergency Response Guide (ERG) for the Upper Delaware River valley from Port Jervis, NY to Deposit, NY. Adopted March 16, 1999, the document serves as a resource of emergency contacts in relation to any incident along the rail line. It consists of a series of maps that show railroad switches and mile markers so that emergency responders and railroad personnel have a common point of reference.

The first edition of the document was a collaboration between the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), the primary Class I railroad in the northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, with support from the National Park Service (NPS) and the UDC, which commissioned the guide.

In an introduction to the ERG, the authors state that the guide was  “a co-operative effort compiled by concerned citizens, organizations, and companies active in the Delaware River Valley,” and that it “evolved in response to a concern for the safety and welfare of the residents, the Delaware River and the environment adjacent to the railroad right of way.”

But since its publication, a lot has changed in almost a quarter of a century.

“There is all sorts of new technology we can put in place,” said Laurie Ramie, UDC executive director, listing GIS mapping and contact protocols as key areas to be addressed in an updated plan.

“It is critically important that we have common communications among all the agencies involved in an emergency response,” she added. Ramie noted that depending on the severity and extent on a spill, responding agencies can include the Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, in addition to local entities, such as law enforcement.

On the subject of railroad safety and potential spills of hazardous materials, Ramie said on behalf of the UDC, “It has always been of interest to us, as the railway runs right through the river valley, it’s always something we have to be concerned about.”

An update of the plan has been in discussion since 2018, after an August 9 accident in which 15 rail cars out of a 63-car NYS&W (New York, Susquehanna & Western) freight train derailed above the Hale Eddy bridge, near Deposit, NY. That derailment sent 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the river. The rewrite effort was renewed in 2020, and the National Park Service is pursuing a grant for the rewrite.

This is first of a series of articles that will continue to explore communication and protocol, and the myriad of agencies that need to coordinate to protect the health and safety of residents.