🚀 go-pugleaf

In last nights coverage of the HCl spill at Buckeye Yard, WCMH did a fair
job at accurately representing the information - mostly by correctly naming
the railroad involved as "Norfolk and Southern" (actually, it's just
"Norfolk Southern", but that is pretty close for news people).

http://www.nbc4columbus.com/news/2836195/detail.html

At the end of the report, they interviewed a man from Clintonville.  I
*believe* they said he was a member of the Clintonville Area Commission -
and if so, I'm guessing it was an interview with "Tom Erney".

In the past, Tom hasn't had many good things to say about railroads period,
and the interview was typical of the silly anti-railroad fluff I hear from
residents who moved into an area that is home to one of the oldest and
busiest railroad lines in the state.

Anyway, his brilliant suggestion was to route all trains with hazardous
materials around the city.  There are a few problems with this.

First, there are no railroad lines that go around the city.  And alternative
routes send trains through more populous areas - merely shifting the danger
of hazardous material spills to other people.  Typical NIMBY nonsense.

Second, just about every train has hazardous materials on it.  So
essentially he proposes routing all trains around Columbus.

Third, what are the alternatives for Columbus businesses who consume these
chemicals - many are within the city limits.  Moving bulk chemicals by truck
is even more accident prone - that's why we have a ban on Hazardous Cargo
trucks through the city.

It seems to me like Mr. Erney has a hidden agenda that would most
economically be served by relocating to Noble County (where there are no
rail lines at all).  As long as he's away from the Interstate, I think he'd
be happy there.

When I moved to a place that was only 300ft from these busy RR tracks, I
knew I was likely to hear trains honking at all hours of the day and night.
After all, it was hard to miss the 24 trains per day or so that went down
the line as I was moving in.

What is it about these people that makes them unable to avoid moving in next
to railroad tracks if they hate them so much?  It's not like the railroad
sprung up overnight.