After last month’s train derailment in Ohio, a New York Congressman is calling on the rail industry to adopt better safety standards to avoid a similar disaster in the Hudson Valley.
Representative Pat Ryan, a Democrat from the 18th District, wrote to the head of CSX Wednesday, asking the freight company to adopt new safety standards.
Ryan cited a 2017 derailment in Newburgh that spilled more than 4,000 tons of diesel fuel and a fatal rail crossing crash in Kingston in 2021. CSX trains run along the Hudson River that often carry toxic materials similar to those aboard the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio.
Ryan is also calling on Congress to modernize braking regulations and expand first responder hazmat training.
Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro of the 19th district wrote to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan last month, inquiring about the EPA’s air and water monitoring efforts in neighboring states.