A new report has revealed that nearly 15,000 schools, with 5.7m students, sit inside the "blast zone", which is the one-mile area running along tracks that the US Department of Transportation (DoT) recommends be evacuated in case of crashes. These schools would be at high risk if a derailment should happen, says the report, and has therefore called for a temporary halt on oil trains until stricter rules are introduced, such as much slower trains and newer carriers. The study was commissioned by the American Trucking Association (ATA), an industry lobby group, to help inform its lobbying efforts against proposed federal legislation aimed at improving safety standards for rail transport.
A new report has revealed that nearly 15,000 schools, with 5.7m students, sit inside the "blast zone", which is the one-mile area running along tracks that the US Department of Transportation (DoT) recommends be evacuated in case of crashes. These schools would be at high risk if a derailment should happen, says the report, and has therefore called for a temporary halt on oil trains until stricter rules are introduced, such as much slower trains and newer carriers. A series of oil train derailments over the past few years have caused fiery explosions in the US but no casualties as yet, however, some believe it is only a matter of time, following the 2013 derailment in Quebec, that killed 47 people.