Privately owned freight railroads are fully committed to safety, continually working for a future with zero incidents. Carriers like BNSF and Union Pacific, which serve businesses across Washington state on a 3,000-mile network, devote attention to accident prevention and mitigation for shipments of potentially hazardous materials like crude oil.
Spending private capital to facilitate safe conditions is key, which is why railroads have invested $25 billion annually in recent years on maintenance and improvements. In 2018, BNSF spent $160 million in Washington.
Since mitigation is also essential, railroads have upgraded the tank cars used for shipping flammable liquids and poisonous gases and developed a new system for emergency responders that enables the identification of hazardous materials in a train.
These efforts are working: rail accident rates are down 40 percent from 2000, and 99.999 percent of rail hazmat shipments reach their destination without a release caused by a train accident. Railroads work closely with all stakeholders to improve safety while ensuring that communities like Vancouver benefit economically from railroads.
Insofar as electronically controlled pneumatic brakes are concerned, they do not provide a significant safety benefit. Allegations that the railroads oppose mandating ECP brakes purely based on their cost are simply false.
