An Amtrak train, carrying 164 people, collided with a tractor-trailer stalled on the tracks in Felida on Sept. 13. The truck was filled with foam blocks. No one was hurt; the train did not derail.
What was a two-trailer semi doing on that road? There is little room between the tracks and Lake River. We are so lucky this was not an oil train and the truck had a soft load. A train derailment would start a fire that would ignite the dry trees along the road and then hopscotch up the hill to the houses. There are 30-plus houseboats on Lake River. If the only access road is on fire how do they get out? The fire department would have to fight the fire from the river. Is there capacity to do that?
We’re opposed to the oil terminal that would bring 500 to 600 train cars, filled with highly flammable oil, per day by our house. We have repeatedly heard that the terminal will be safe. Not when there are trains derailing along the route. Next time we won’t have a Styrofoam train crash.
