Federal regulators want first responders to a train derailment to know exactly what they are dealing with even before they reach the scene.
The largest freight railroads already have an app they developed, AskRail, which for nearly a decade has enabled firefighters to quickly look up the details of what each train carries. And crews have long carried printed copies of their cargo in the cabs of their locomotives.
But this proposed rule would apply to every railroad that carries chemicals — not just the six biggest ones that created AskRail. Nearly 600 railroads would be covered. And the rule would force the railroads to proactively send out this information to all nearby emergency services, using electronic push alerts, anytime there is a derailment or hazardous chemical release, instead of expecting arriving firefighters to look up the details on an app.
The old standby of expecting train crews to provide cargo information at the scene has its limitations. Precious minutes can elapse in the chaos of a major derailment before first responders find crewmembers. But that would still be the backup plan in case first responders don't get the electronic information right away.to ship dangerous chemicals by land with more than 99 percent of those shipments arriving safety.
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