Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security at a hearing on Rail Safety.

During her testimony, the Senator highlighted the litany of derailments and accidents that have occurred in New York in recent months, including incidents at Cheektowaga, Syracuse, Selkirk, East Rochester, and Oneida and blasted the inadequacy of the current system of monitoring and managing safety issues on our railroads. During her testimony, the Senator also called for:

- Increased inspectors, more frequent system-wide safety inspections of major railroads, and routine use of new technologies on the part of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA);

- Legislation that creates safe working conditions for workers - and in turn safe conditions for our railroads;

- Implementation of a data-driven evaluation system by the FRA to measure the effectiveness of its enforcement program - instead of relying on the railroads for compliance;

- Stronger regulations and better enforcement to hold railroad companies accountable; and

- Extension of the process for assessing risk and managing risk beyond commuter railroads and pipelines to freight lines as well.

Senator Clinton is currently working with the Senate Commerce Committee on comprehensive rail safety legislation.

Her testimony today represents another step in Senator Clinton's continued efforts to ensure rail safety throughout the state of New York. In the wake of several rail incidents in New York, most notably the recent train derailment in Oneida, Senator Clinton has been a vocal force in the call for reforming our current rail system ensuring its safety.

Earlier this year, the FRA conducted a 23-state inspection of CSX properties, which exposed hundreds of defects, including over a dozen violations along CSX tracks in New York. With these alarming discoveries, Senator Clinton pushed the FRA to inspect not only CSX tracks, but also non-CSX owned tracks, and subsequently called for a comprehensive inspection of all railroad tracks across New York State while reiterating the very real need for track safety standards to be strictly enforced. Senator Clinton met with Joseph H. Boardman, the Federal Railroad Administrator, and called on him repeatedly to lead an investigation into the safety of New York railroads. During this meeting, the Administrator informed Senator Clinton that the FRA would expand its investigation to non-CSX tracks.

A copy of Senator Clinton's testimony is below -

Testimony of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton On Rail Safety before the Surface Transportation Subcommittee May 22, 2007

Chairman Lautenberg, Ranking Member Smith, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee. Chairman Lautenberg, thank you for your work and your commitment to our nation's transportation systems and infrastructure. I am pleased to be joined by my colleague, Senator Schumer. As you might assume from our both being here we have some very important questions and concerns about the situation of our railroads in New York.

As you said, Chairman Lautenberg, Railroads today transport about 42 percent of the nation's freight and the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that between 1998 and 2020 the amount of freight transported by rail will increase by 50 percent.

At the same time, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) - the nation's chief rail safety agency - is understaffed, overextended, and has the capacity to inspect only 0.2 percent of the nation's railroads. While gains have been made in rail safety, the primary responsibility is delegated to the railroad industry. And in the absence of public scrutiny and private responsibility, rail safety is being neglected - and the consequences have been deadly.

On December 10, 2006 a 64-car CSX freight train derailed in Cheektowaga, New York.

On December 14, 2006, a CSX carman with 30 years of experience was struck and killed at a CSX yard in Syracuse, New York.

On December 19, 2006 a CSX carman with 15 years of experience was struck and killed by a train in Selkirk, New York.

On January 16, 2007, a 13-car CSX freight train traveling at 62 mph derailed near East Rochester, New York.

Most recently, a CSX train derailed near Oneida, New York on March 12, 2007. The train was carrying liquefied petroleum gas and the accident resulted in a massive fire. Fortunately, there were no injuries - but authorities were forced to enact a mile-wide evacuation of the surrounding area. If this train had been carrying chlorine or any other extremely dangerous material, the result could have been catastrophic.

Derailments on CSX properties in recent months have occurred in Kentucky, Maryland, and Ohio.

On March 27th, the FRA released the results of a focused inspection on CSX properties in each of the 23 states where the railroad operates. It found 3,518 defects and 199 potential violations. In New York alone, 60 inspections revealed 376 defects, including 13 violations. It is my understanding that the violations cited in the inspection are still being reviewed by FRA.

I have met with and called on the Administrator of the FRA, Joe Boardman, to expand his investigation to other railroads besides CSX. I don't think that we want to sit idly by waiting for the next derailment to occur.

I commend the response of Administrator Boardman and the FRA in light of these troubling accidents and derailments in New York.

The FRA is doomed to fail, however, without the resources, authority, and support to properly ensure the safety of our nation's railroads. And that's why it is so important, what you're doing Mr. Chairman.

This Congress needs to fill the leadership vacuum left by previous Congresses and the current Administration and implement meaningful rail safety reform.

The FRA needs more inspectors, more frequent system-wide safety inspections of major railroads, and routine use of new technologies. The number of inspectors has remained flat in recent years. As of July 2006, FRA has 657 full time and part-time safety staff, including 400 inspectors in the field. In contrast, the railroad industry has about 235,000 employees, 219,000 miles of track in operation, 158,000 signals and switches, and more than 1.6 million locomotives. It's plain and simple - in order for the FRA to ensure rail safety; it needs the inspectors and the inspection technology to do its job.

We also should do more to protect railroad workers. For too long, fatigue-related errors in the rail industry have contributed to rail work injuries and deaths. I think we should look at legislation that creates safe working conditions for workers - and in turn safe conditions for our railroads.

FRA needs a data-driven evaluation system to measure the effectiveness of its enforcement program - instead of relying on the railroads for compliance. It's hard to correct problems when the FRA does not have the facts about what is being fixed and what isn't.

The FRA must have stronger regulations and better enforcement to hold railroad companies accountable. It has entered into only 13 compliance agreements and one compliance order over the past decade. And I urge the Committee to look into how these methods can be used more effectively.

Finally, this Committee and Congress should also explore risk management. The systematic process for assessing risk and managing risk helps us protect commuter railroads and pipelines in our country as well as Canadian railroads - why not our freight lines as well?

Chairman Lautenberg, and to the other members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to come and share our concerns from New York and I look forward to working with you on legislation that will provide the FRA with the tools necessary to ensure the safety of our nation's railroads - I look forward to your leadership on this important issue.

Thank you.

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