{"id":2035606,"date":"2023-09-17T22:49:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T02:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-railroad-administration-cited-serious-safety-concerns-days-before-union-pacific-explosion\/"},"modified":"2023-09-17T23:00:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T03:00:40","slug":"federal-railroad-administration-cited-serious-safety-concerns-days-before-union-pacific-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-railroad-administration-cited-serious-safety-concerns-days-before-union-pacific-explosion\/","title":{"rendered":"Days before the Union Pacific explosion, the Federal Railroad Administration raised serious safety concerns."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffederal-railroad-administration-cited-serious-safety-concerns-days-before-union-pacific-explosion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2035606&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Explosion at Rail Yard Raises Serious Safety Concerns<\/h2>\n<p>Just days before \u2062last week&#8217;s explosion at what is considered the world&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thursday-september-30th-2021\/\" title=\"Thursday | September 30th, 2021\">largest rail yard<\/a>, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sent a letter to yard owner\u2063 Union Pacific Corp. citing \u200dwhat it called &#8220;serious safety concerns&#8221; with the railroad giant&#8217;s fleet of freight cars, operational standards, and lack of response to known maintenance needs.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2062 a Sept. 8 letter to Union Pacific (UP), the agency refers to the condition of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company&#8217;s stock of freight cars at its North Platte, Nebraska, rail yard as &#8220;poor&#8221; and found that the \u200dcompany was &#8220;unwilling\u200b or unable \u200bto \u200ctake steps\u200c to improve the condition \u2062of their equipment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It accused UP&#8217;s locomotive \u2063director of &#8220;blatantly&#8221; disregarding the agency&#8217;s identified safety violations and concluded that the rail company had &#8220;not displayed a sense of urgency to improve locomotive and car conditions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Related\u2064 Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/video-captures-smoke-billowing-as-shipping-container-with-toxic-chemicals-explodes-on-nebraska-train-5492206\">Video: Smoke\u200c Billows as\u200d Shipping \u200cContainer With Toxic Chemicals Explodes on Nebraska Train<\/a> (9\/15\/2023)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/gop-seeks-answers-from-buttigieg-on-disturbing-failures-of-transportation-department-5487051\">GOP Seeks Answers From Buttigieg on \u2018Disturbing\u2019 Failures of Transportation Department<\/a> (9\/6\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The letter shows that the federal agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, found that 70 percent of Union Pacific&#8217;s locomotives and almost \u206320 percent of its freight cars had safety defects\u2014both twice the national average, the FRA pointed out.<\/p>\n<p>The agency also \u200caccuses UP of trying to block \u2063the inspection of its North Platte rail yard in \u200dNebraska where the explosion of a \u200brail \u2062car\u200c on Sept. 14 resulted in an evacuation within a four-mile radius.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The FRA inspectors received numerous calls from UP managers requesting FRA leave the yard, including the UP MTOs [managers of train operations], the Terminal Superintendent, and multiple car department \u2062managers\u2062 in North \u200bPlatte,&#8221; the agency reported. &#8220;UP\u2019s General Director for Mechanical called the District Specialist and Deputy Staff Director, requesting FRA to stop\u200d inspecting the East Departure Yard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The shipping container that exploded contained perchloric acid, a primary component \u200cin rocket fuel. According \u2063to a\u2064 Harvard University study, it&#8217;s highly harmful if ingested or inhaled, and can cause severe eye damage and severe skin burns.<\/p>\n<p>According to ACS\u200d Strategic Initiatives, the acid is &#8220;extremely unstable&#8221; and can &#8220;decompose explosively or spontaneously combust at ordinary temperatures if mixed with organic compounds.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>UP officials \u200ctold The Epoch Times that &#8220;safety is \u2064always our first priority&#8221;\u200c and that it was &#8220;reviewing and will address the concerns raised by the FRA,&#8221; in a written response to inquiries about the FRA letter and the rail car explosion.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2063company also pointed out that the evacuation order, under the direction of state safety officials, was listed in less than 24 hours following the explosion and that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/huge-explosion-at-chemical-plant-outside-chicago\/\" title=\"Huge Explosion At Chemical Plant Outside Chicago\">air quality tests<\/a> in \u200dthe area &#8220;found no health concerns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It said it would be cooperating with federal and state investigations regarding the explosion at the sprawling \u200d2,850-acre Nebraska railyard known as the &#8220;Bailey Yard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 14,000 rail cars that pass through\u200b the hub \u2062daily \u200ccarry freight all over the country,\u2062 including to the Canadian\u2064 and \u2063Mexican borders.<\/p>\n<p>The explosion and\u200d cited safety concerns follow a series of train derailments involving both Union Pacific freight cars and other rail companies. Just two days prior to the Sept. 8 FRA \u2063letter, a Union Pacific coal train derailed in Bennett, Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Some have caused massive \u200bbut harmless spills\u200c of cargo such as soybean oil, while others have caused heavy environmental contamination, such as the derailment of a Portland-Western Railroad freight car\u2062 that spilled 2,000 gallons of diesel oil in Toledo, Oregon, in February.<\/p>\n<p>According \u2062to the Department of Transportation, about 4.5 million hazardous chemicals \u200care carried across\u2062 America yearly by rail.<\/p>\n<p>Americans watched in horror \u2063in February as heavy clouds of dark smoke engulfed the rural community of East Palestine, Ohio, for days following the derailment of a \u200cfreight car owned by Norfolk Southern,\u200d another major U.S. rail company.<\/p>\n<p>It was soon revealed that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/at-least-50-killed-in-taiwans-deadliest-rail-disaster-train-carrying-nearly-500-people-crashes-and-derails\/\" title=\"At Least 50 Killed In Taiwan\u2019s \u2018Deadliest Rail Disaster,\u2019 Train Carrying Nearly 500 People Crashes And Derails\">derailed train<\/a> was carrying several toxic chemicals, including 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can cause \u200dlethal damage to the nervous and respiratory systems in heavy concentrations.<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 12, \u2064just two days before the North Platte explosion, Simply Wall St published a market analysis of Union Pacific, titled &#8220;Institutional investors may adopt severe steps after\u200c Union Pacific\u2062 Corporation&#8217;s \u2063latest 4.3% drop adds\u2062 to \u2064a year&#8217;s losses.&#8221; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-railroad-administration-cited-serious-safety-concerns-days-before-union-pacific-explosion\/\" title=\"Days before the Union Pacific explosion, the Federal Railroad Administration raised serious safety concerns.\">global online market consultant concluded<\/a> its review with a warning to potential UP investors that its risk analysis\u2063 shows that the rail company &#8220;has a \u200chigh level of debt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The largest shareholder of both Norfolk Southern\u200b and Union Pacific is global investment adviser The Vanguard Group.<\/p>\n<p>Just four days earlier in its Sept. 8 letter, the FRA said it learned the company had furloughed 94 locomotive\u2064 craft employees and 44 carmen. It \u200dsaid \u200dthe company had explained that the decision was due to &#8220;receding volumes and lack of demand for service.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This begs the question\u2014was UP\u2019s failure \u2063to improve the condition of their rolling \u2063stock during the FRA\u2019s focused inspection a result \u200bof not having the personnel to make the necessary repairs because of the recent furloughs?&#8221; the FRA\u200b wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Union Pacific told The Epoch Times that &#8220;there is no correlation between recent furloughs and Union Pacific\u2019s \u2063ability to address mechanical repairs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have the appropriate staffing\u200c for all crafts, and \u2063always leave a buffer to allow for the natural ebb and\u2062 flow nature of our business,&#8221; the company said.<\/p>\n<p>Two days before the North Platte explosion, Randy Fannon, national vice\u200d president for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers\u2064 and Trainmen, predicted to\u2063 ProPublica that another devastating rail accident similar to \u200cthe Ohio\u200d one was\u2063 imminent until UP fixes its\u200c safety problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s no community safe from\u200c these defects and dangerous situations,&#8221; Mr. Fannon was\u200b quoted as \u200csaying. &#8220;UP will have their East Palestine soon unless they correct these issues and return to\u200b a normal maintenance \u2063program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What are the potential risks and dangers \u200bassociated with transporting hazardous chemicals by rail, and why is it important to ensure that safety regulations are followed in the \u200btransportation\u2062 of these chemicals<\/h2>\n<p><span>  \u2062 14, 2023, a shipping container filled with perchloric acid exploded at Union Pacific \u200cCorp.&#8217;s rail yard in North Platte, Nebraska, raising serious safety \u2064concerns regarding the company&#8217;s operations.\u200c In a letter sent to Union Pacific just days before the explosion, the Federal \u200dRailroad Administration (FRA) highlighted significant safety issues with the \u200ccompany&#8217;s\u2064 fleet of freight cars, operational standards, and lack of response to maintenance\u2062 needs.<\/p>\n<p>The FRA&#8217;s letter referred to Union Pacific&#8217;s stock\u2063 of freight \u2062cars as &#8220;poor&#8221; and criticized the company for being unwilling or\u200d unable to improve their condition. The agency accused UP&#8217;s locomotive \u200cdirector of \u2064blatantly disregarding safety\u2063 violations and stated that the company showed no urgency to address locomotive and\u200d car conditions.<\/p>\n<p>According \u2062to the FRA, 70% of Union Pacific&#8217;s locomotives and nearly\u2062 20% of its freight cars had safety defects,\u200c which is twice \u2063the national average. The agency \u2062also accused UP of attempting to block \u200bthe inspection of its North\u200b Platte rail yard,\u2063 where \u200cthe explosion occurred,\u200b further raising concerns about\u2063 the company&#8217;s commitment to safety.<\/p>\n<p>The shipping \u2062container that exploded contained perchloric acid, a highly harmful substance used in rocket\u2064 fuel. \u200cIngesting or inhaling the \u2064acid can\u2062 cause severe eye \u2064damage and skin burns. \u2063The acid\u2062 is also extremely \u200bunstable\u2064 and can explode or spontaneously combust if mixed with organic compounds.<\/p>\n<p>Union Pacific officials responded to the FRA&#8217;s concerns by\u2064 stating that safety is \u200calways their\u200b first priority. They acknowledged the FRA&#8217;s letter and\u200c the rail car explosion and assured that they would \u2064address \u2063the issues raised by the agency. The company emphasized\u2063 that the evacuation\u2062 order following the explosion was carried out under the direction of state safety\u2062 officials and that air quality \u200ctests found no \u200dhealth concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Union\u200b Pacific stated its willingness to\u200c cooperate\u200b with federal\u200c and state investigations into\u2062 the explosion. The &#8220;Bailey Yard,&#8221; where the \u200cexplosion occurred, is\u2062 a sprawling \u200d2,850-acre rail yard responsible for\u2062 handling 14,000 rail cars daily, transporting \u2062freight throughout the \u2062country, including to the Canadian and\u2063 Mexican borders.<\/p>\n<p>This\u200b explosion and \u2062the safety concerns raised by \u2062the \u200dFRA are part of a series of train derailments involving Union\u200c Pacific freight cars and other\u200b rail companies. Prior \u200bto \u2063the FRA&#8217;s letter, there was a Union Pacific coal train\u2064 derailment in Bennett, Colorado. These derailments have resulted in \u2064spills\u200d of cargo or environmental contamination, highlighting \u200dthe \u200drisks associated\u2062 with transporting hazardous \u2064chemicals by rail.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Transportation estimates that about 4.5 million hazardous chemicals are transported\u200b by rail in the United States each year. The\u200b recent incidents serve \u2064as a\u200d reminder of\u200d the \u200bpotential dangers and the importance of\u200b ensuring safety \u2064regulations are \u2063followed in the transportation of these chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, the explosion at Union Pacific&#8217;s\u200c rail yard and \u200dthe \u2063FRA&#8217;s safety concerns underscore the need\u2064 for heightened safety measures and greater accountability in the rail industry. It is crucial for companies like Union Pacific to prioritize\u200d safety and promptly address\u200d any identified safety issues \u2062to prevent\u2064 future accidents and\u200b protect the well-being of both their employees\u200b and the communities they operate in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>letter sent just days before the recent explosion at the world&#8217;s largest rail yard, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) expressed serious safety concerns to Union Pacific Corp., the yard owner. The FRA highlighted issues with the company&#8217;s freight cars, operational standards, and failure to address maintenance needs promptly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":2035607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2035606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2035606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2035606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2035606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2035606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}