Thanks 4thygip....last year at this time I was finding about 3 to 4 derailments a day. Many of them included chemical spills. I still think that with the extensive rail systems in this country that are used to carry large containers of different hazardous chemicals, they are always a potential target.
Add to that fact, what seems like little or no attention is being paid to the lack of security for the rail systems. These railway cross through miles of populated areas. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money is being spent on traffic cameras to catch red-light runners. So the potential to make money from red-light runners paying on automated tickets gets more funding than something that would help secure our railways. Homeland Security needs to step up the process to secure our railways.
In most of the derailments that I have found over the last year, they don't know the exact cause or the cause is "under investigation". Most of these stories have little or no follow-up info. after the fact.
I live less than 1/2 mile from a railway and that stays in the back of my mind. The shelter in place notice from IPN really caught my attention and at 2:30 in the morning at that.
IMO, 1/2 mile from RR tracks is still better than 100 small planes a day flying overhead.
Crosspost
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315273/posts?page=22#22
I'm channel surfing all over the place.
Our local news has been pre-empted all morning. Two trains collided the next town over (5 miles away) and dangerous chemicals are in the air. Residents urged to stay indoors and turn off ventilation. Many casualties and an unknown number of fatalities. FBI has been called. Hospital overflowing and University is a staging area with hazmat that looks like pictures we saw during the anthrax attacks.
22 posted on 01/06/2005 9:26:37 AM CST by Peach