COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON AUTHORIZATIONS FOR RAIL SAFETY ACTIVITIES OF THE 61-318 O MARCH 24, 1980 Serial No. 96-97 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1980 12A980 34088/14/80 KF26 CONTENTS Bissell, Keith, commissioner, Tennessee Public Service Commission, vice chair- man, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, committee Questions of the committee and the answers thereto Cowan, Billy R., Railway Labor Executives' Association; accompanied by Larry Dempsey, William, president, Association of American Railroads; accompanied by A.W. Johnston, vice president, maintenance and operations department; King, James B., chairman, National Transportation Safety Board; accompanied Sullivan, John M., administrator, Federal Railroad Administration; accompa- Goldschmidt, Hon. Neil, Secretary of Transportation, letter of March 21, 1980, 127 1 AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL RAILWAY SAFETY ACT OF 1970 MONDAY, MARCH 24, 1980 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 235 of the Russell Senate Office Building; Hon. Russell B. Long (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR LONG Senator LONG. This hearing will come to order. Today the Surface Transportation Subcommittee is holding an oversight hearing on the important issue of rail safety. The focus of today's hearing is the authorization request of the Federal Railroad Administration for its rail safety activities. In this regard, the Department of Transportation has just transmitted to Congress a bill which would provide for the safety authorization of $28 million for fiscal year 1981 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1982. It proposes certain statutory changes in rail safety law. In reviewing this Administration request, the Committee must keep in mind the statistics on rail accidents. Certain witnesses today will testify to the overall decrease in rail accidents from 1978 to 1979. If this is so, the Committee wants to ensure that this trend continues. In this regard, the Committee must be assured that the safety responsibilities of the FRA in data collection and analysis, formulation of regulations, and enforcement through inspection, emergency orders and civil and criminal penalties are being implemented to ensure that the major causes of accidents are being monitored and that incentives exist for the industry to reduce such causes. Of particular concern to me and the rest of the Committee is the rail transportation of hazardous materials. Although preliminary figures indicate that during 1979 there occurred only 112 incidents of hazardous materials releases, the potential danger to particular communities through which much of the hazardous material is transported is ever present. I am encouraged by the rail industry's ongoing tank car retrofit program and urge the industry to cooperate with the FRA its continued efforts toward discovering other technological and operational improvements which would ensure the safer transportation of hazardous material by rail. (1) |
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