The City of Philadelphia has refused to disclose what hazardous materials move daily along the CSX rail corridor beside Fitler Square, citing public safety concerns.
Those hazardous materials don't just move along the trail, they often sit for hours and hours while the trains are idling, blocking the entrance to the trail at 25th and Locust. CSX uses the tracks as a parking lot. And the big gates are often chained shut which would slow down any emergency vehicles from access to the tracks.
I live near the trail and the CSX crossing for pedestrian traffic. Literally for months an irrigation shed leaked copious amounts of water flooding the area, freezing, and left unchecked. Eventually a city water employee and I discussed the shed... the worker was not aware the shed belonged to CSX and CSX was unaware of the flooding, or so they said. We expect this same entity to keep us safe from potentially lethal "accidents"?
True, but the public is not without an option. Every car carrying a hazardous material is required to fully display a hazmat tag ( https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2020-01/signed%20HMG124.pdf ) This takes the form of a red diamond displayed prominently on the car's side. And here's a list of all the codes -- both hazardous and not: (https://ehs.msu.edu/_assets/docs/waste/hazardous-material-code-table.pdf). I always watch and take note of what's passing through when I walk the trail. Codes are easy to look up. Vast majority are ordinary diesel fuel oil (UN 1993), which is generally hazardous of course, but not in a spectacular "blow everything up" sort of way.
Those hazardous materials don't just move along the trail, they often sit for hours and hours while the trains are idling, blocking the entrance to the trail at 25th and Locust. CSX uses the tracks as a parking lot. And the big gates are often chained shut which would slow down any emergency vehicles from access to the tracks.
I live near the trail and the CSX crossing for pedestrian traffic. Literally for months an irrigation shed leaked copious amounts of water flooding the area, freezing, and left unchecked. Eventually a city water employee and I discussed the shed... the worker was not aware the shed belonged to CSX and CSX was unaware of the flooding, or so they said. We expect this same entity to keep us safe from potentially lethal "accidents"?
True, but the public is not without an option. Every car carrying a hazardous material is required to fully display a hazmat tag ( https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2020-01/signed%20HMG124.pdf ) This takes the form of a red diamond displayed prominently on the car's side. And here's a list of all the codes -- both hazardous and not: (https://ehs.msu.edu/_assets/docs/waste/hazardous-material-code-table.pdf). I always watch and take note of what's passing through when I walk the trail. Codes are easy to look up. Vast majority are ordinary diesel fuel oil (UN 1993), which is generally hazardous of course, but not in a spectacular "blow everything up" sort of way.