Playing Railroad Roulette

A game that caused 20 deaths

While workers were preparing to transfer 20,000 gal. of liquid propane gas from a derailed tank car to trucks in Waverly, Tenn., the gas suddenly exploded, leveling 14 buildings. "It was just like you were thrown into a furnace," said Truck Driver Carl Stokes, who was burned severely. "It was like a power throwing us into the sun. People were walking, their clothes were gone and their bodies were completely burned." The toll: twelve dead and at least 50 injured.

Two days later, as a 140-car freight train rumbled by tiny Youngstown in Florida's panhandle, all five locomotives hurtled off the track, piling up 47 cars like jackstraws. From one ruptured tanker poured a cloud of deadly, yellowish-green chlorine gas. Engineer Ray Shores grabbed his portable short-wave radio and sprinted 75 yds. to a swamp, where he burrowed deep into the mud and called for help.

When the gas spread across nearby Route 231, it looked at first like fog to Richard Kuhn, who was driving home to New York from a skindiving vacation in Florida. Then his van stalled and he got a whiff of the searing vapor. Kuhn strapped on his scuba air tank and walked out of the death cloud to safety. Another motorist, Donald Sellers of Tallahassee, a veteran of Army chemical-warfare training, recognized the gas as chlorine and told his wife to get to the floor of the car, where there was still breathable air. "We were both vomiting," he said. "The car was a mess. Fortunately, we had just eaten. The doctors said the food absorbed a lot of gas."

Ambulance Driver Doug Lister and his partner, Marty Shipman, were the first rescuers to reach the twisted wreckage. Said Shipman: "Suddenly I couldn't breathe. I started screaming at Doug to get the hell out of there." Added Lister: "I was spitting up blood. I felt like I was breathing flames. I thought I was going to die." Lister managed to put the ambulance into reverse and rush away. Others were not so lucky: eight people died and 50 were injured.

Also last week, a 101-car Illinois Central Gulf train jumped the tracks in Cades, Tenn. Among the derailed cars was one filled with caustic sodium hydroxide. Two days later 33 cars of a 91-car train, including one flatcar with a truck trailer containing 200 cases of flammable insecticide, derailed near Bowling Green, Ky. In neither accident were there any deaths or injuries.

Not for nearly a decade have U.S. railroads had such a wretched five days.

Federal investigators blamed the Youngstown wreck on sabotage--someone had unbolted two sections of rail. But the other three derailments apparently were caused by mechanical failures: broken wheels in Waverly and Bowling Green, and a broken brake assembly in Cades. Indeed, the tracks and much of the equipment belonging to U.S. railroads have been deteriorating for years, and experts agree that the situation is steadily worsening. Last year there were about 8,000 derailments--3,000 more than the total ten years ago--including 150 or so in which tank cars leaked dangerous chemicals.

The railroads themselves are responsible for inspecting and maintaining track and equipment. Officials of the railroads involved in the latest derailments insisted that they had taken all possible precautions. Said Donald T. Martin, an executive with Family Lines System, which operated the train that derailed in Waverly: "We do our utmost to keep our track and roadbed in good shape. We had inspected the track at Waverly two days before the accident. But there is no way to tell when a wheel will break. There's no way to tell when the metal will get tired."

But federal experts say that U.S. railroads, except for the handful that are in sound financial shape, simply cannot afford to keep their equipment properly maintained. Observed Raymond James, chief counsel and acting director of the Federal Railroad Administration's Safety Office: "The railroad system does not generate enough income to sustain itself. What gives first is maintenance, and it's getting worse." Despite a 10% increase in freight rates in 1974 and an annual expenditure of $9 billion in maintenance, the railroads since that year have reduced a backlog of $4.1 billion in needed repairs by only $1 billion.

At the same time, railroads have increased shipments of poisonous, explosive and asphyxiating chemicals, to 80 million tons in 1976. They also routinely transport nuclear materials, so far without serious accident. To keep up with the demand, shippers have doubled the capacity of the average tank car, to 100 tons. Federal safety standards that took effect last September require new tankers to be equipped with crash shields to prevent punctures and thermal liners to reduce the chance of explosions. But shippers have until 1981 to remodel the 23,000 tank cars that are used to ship dangerous substances. Only about 20 now meet the new standards. Moreover, as an economy measure, railroads have increased the length of their freight trains. Declared Kay Bailey, acting head of the National Transportation Safety Board: "The tracks often cannot bear the load of bigger trains and heavier cars."

To solve the problem, Governors Ray

Blanton of Tennessee and Julian Carroll of Kentucky urged the Federal Government to take over the nation's 199,411 miles of roadbed and restore it to good condition. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams rejected the idea. Said he: "Such a move would produce protests from the railroads and the unions, and I personally do not favor it." But he promised to increase the number of federal track inspectors (present total: about 300) and to ask Congress to vote more financial aid for state inspection agencies. Further, Adams pledged to convene a panel of experts to devise safer ways to transport dangerous cargoes. But there is a growing sense among railroaders that the roadbed problem cannot be neglected much longer. Warned Trini Guillen, southwest regional administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration: "We are playing Russian roulette."

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