[N]ORTH BENNINGTON — Village trustees have lodged a complaint with Vermont Railway System calling a train that had stalled in the village center for 45 minutes in early May had been a “blatant public hazard.”
The 100-car train had been immobilized by a mechanical failure, Vermont Railway Vice President Selden Houghton said on Thursday. As soon as the source of the problem was located, and repairs completed, the train was on its way, he said.
It “was not routine and definitely an isolated incident,” Houghton said.
Town resident Bill Scully said he’d been on his way home when stopped by the train across Main Street. He said while he waited for the train to clear, he witnessed several dangerous situations develop, including “multiple school children” trying to find a path around the parked train and “having to dodge vehicles” that were turning around, backing down streets or driving in the wrong lane or over private property, including lawns, to escape the blockage.
“It strikes me that primarily, the trains should not create a public nuisance, but moreover a blatant public hazard,” Scully wrote in an email to board members. “Had any of the circumstances above caused injury or another emergency, rescue squads would not have been able to dispatch to the location without substantial detour.”
He said he phoned police while he waited and was told his was not the first call received.
Scully met with the village board on May 8, and members said they would write Vermont Railway about the complaint and register concerns.
John Lamson, the chairman of the village board, said in an email Monday that he had drafted a letter to the state Rail and Aviation Bureau of VTrans.
“I received a short response from the director, Dan Delabruere, indicating that the operator was Vermont Railway, and that even though the Agency of Transportation owns the railroad tracks that all train movements are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration,” he said.
Lamson added that he is aware of a nearly identical incident having occurred on May 9, counter to Houghton’s comment.
Houghton said Thursday that the “knuckles” that connect rail cars together had pulled apart between two cars and that involved a loss of air pressure for the train’s hydraulic systems. He said the train engineer had to first find the problem site, about 40 rail cars back from the locomotive, and then have repairs made.
While that was in progress, the pressurized air in the system was lost, including in backup chambers on the train, Houghton said, and it took time to rebuild the necessary pressure. He said the train could not move until that process was complete.
Another issue, Houghton said, was that the train was more than three times longer than trains normally assembled in North Bennington because of congestion in the rail network beyond Hoosick Falls, New York. A 30-car train is more typical of those assembled here, he said.
“We didn’t like this any more than anyone else,” he said, adding that the railroad will respond in writing to the village board about the incident.
Because of the location of the train, Scully said, anyone north of the rail tracks was effectively blocked from Route 67A, which links North Bennington with Hoosick, New York, to the west and the town of Bennington to the south, or they were forced to take complicated detours.
“I understand the need for rail transport, but this was far beyond unacceptable,” he wrote.
Scully said the board and state should consider regulation or policy covering the length of time a road can be blocked without provisions and/or signage for detours or similar responses being implemented.
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, said at the time that he would ask Vermont Secretary of Transportation Joseph Flynn to look into the incident.
Campion, who has proposed new state regulations covering hazardous materials stored in parked rail cars, which occurred over the winter in the village on an unused rail spur, said Friday that he hopes to meet with Flynn in Montpelier next week to discuss both rail issues.
He said he asked Flynn the status of a proposed community meeting to discuss concerns about the storage of hazardous materials, such as propane.
Flynn told Campion in an email that he had not been aware of the train blockage incident, but he said he would look into it. “I’ve also asked for information regarding first responder training [for dealing with hazardous materials].”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said in an email on Friday that he had received a number of complaints about the situation in North Bennington from emergency responders. “They report at times all crossings are unusable in North Bennington, which could create a problem if there was an emergency,” he said. “I believe I reported this to [VTrans] and urged those who contacted me to contact the federal delegation.”
