Toxic Trains: Do we know what freight trains are hauling through our neighborhoods?

• Scott LaMar
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  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 Blaine Shahan / LNP | LancasterOnline

A Norfolk Southern train crosses Front Street In Columbia Borough Monday, April 17, 2023.

Airdate: July 25th, 2023

 

The Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio last February was a wake-up call for many across the country.

Firefighters who responded to that scene didn’t know what materials or chemicals were contained in the tanker cars of the freight train after they ran off the tracks.

Thousands of residents in the town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border evacuated. Three days after the derailment, the decision was made to release toxic vinyl chloride from five tank cars and burn it to keep them from exploding.

Every day, trains pass through our local neighborhoods and near our homes and schools and we really don’t know what they’re hauling.

Reporters for LNP | LancasterOnline and WITF sought detailed information about train cargo in a series called Toxic Trains. LNP reporter Ann Rejrat investigated what we know about freight trains and what they haul through Lancaster County and other Central Pennsylvania counties as well and said on The Spark Tuesday the information on what trains are hauling isn’t easy to get, “The information belongs to the private train companies themselves, and they are not required to share that information unless something such as a derailment happens. So what happens with a derailment is responders show up to this scene. You’re looking at firefighters, the people in the community are going to come to respond to the scene. And when they respond, they have a few options, none of it streamlined. They can use what’s called the Ask Rail app, which is not mandated or they have to get a hold of what’s called a manifest on the train, which should be near the engineer.” That manifest may not be accessible if an engineer is injured or the train has been damaged.

Federal and state governments are working on ways to rectify the lack of information as Reyrat explained,”Things like creating a database that holds all the information. And then when there is a situation, any type of hazmat release, it can get pushed out to local responders. What happens with that if it actually does happen? That’s all on the federal and state level right now. But there are proposals to try to fix it, to try to get the information faster. But none of those changes have actually started to happen.”

The LNP/Lancaster Online/WITF investigation found counties don’t know what’s on trains traveling through their areas on a daily basis, although some have records of materials that have been hauled through those counties in past years.