John Joyce

In the aftermath of the fourth derailment this year Friday on the Norfolk Southern mainline near Altoona, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-13th District, Monday sent letters to the Federal Railroad Administration and Norfolk Southern, asking why there has been such a string of mishaps and what the parties are doing to prevent a recurrence. A total of at least 100 railcars came off the tracks in derailments that occurred in February, March, August and October between the Horseshoe Curve area and the western boundary of the city, according to a news release from Joyce that accompanied the letters. “The frequency of railcar derailments in and around this specific portion of Norfolk Southern rail lines is troubling and raises valid concerns as to whether there are underlying issues along this stretch,” Joyce wrote to the FRA. “Four publicly reported derailments along this specific rail corridor in just nine months are unprecedented and completely unacceptable,” he told NS. Joyce asked both parties whether they’ll investigate to determine the cause or causes of the repeated derailments. He asked the FRA whether NS notified it in a timely fashion about each derailment; what the agency’s protocol is for responding to derailments; whether it has coordinated with NS and the National Transportation Safety Board “to better understand” the incidents; and whether it has previously identified the local corridor as at special risk. Joyce asked NS for a “remediation plan” to stop the derailments; asked why prior routine inspections didn’t identify whatever risk has led to them; asked what the railroad is doing to ensure against damage from toxic spills and whether the railroad has considered rerouting hazardous materials away from the local mainline until the possible issues are identified and fixed. “Norfolk Southern must do more to prevent these accidents and assure the local community that it can operate safely through Blair County’s rail corridor,” Joyce told the railroad company. Joyce also asked NS about its procedure for notifying local officials and first responder agencies about derailments, and whether those procedures were “successfully executed during all four Blair County derailments this year.” On Friday, 10 cars came off the tracks just west of Mill Run Road, including three tank cars containing Liquified Petroleum Gas, a hazardous material. There were no leaks, officials said. Those three railcars, as well as a tank car containing lubricating oil, have been taken down the rail embankment and are currently stored at an industrial property at the intersection of South 10th Avenue and Curtis Street. The air nearby is being monitored, and the contents are scheduled to be unloaded today, according to local emergency officials. It wasn’t clear how they would be unloaded, however, local officials said. From the railroad’s standpoint, “everything went the way they would have hoped,” said Rusty Shoenfelt, chief of Logan Township United Fire Department about Friday