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MeEvilBob t1_j92yfn9 wrote

He's the CEO of a railroad that doesn't run through Massachusetts

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Pyroechidna1 t1_j94tfce wrote

NS de facto runs through Massachusetts via their joint venture Pan Am Southern, which sees NS trains with NS locomotives running from North Adams to Ayer using Pan Am crews.

Now that CSX has acquired Pan Am, some of those NS trains will run over the B&A to Worcester and then up to Ayer so they can avoid the lower clearance of the Hoosac Tunnel.

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Ignitemare t1_j95qkiz wrote

So what you're saying is that it's only a matter of time until my town Worcester gets hit with one of these derailments.

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Pyroechidna1 t1_j95qukp wrote

It’s just as possible in Worcester as anywhere else. The Millers River watershed through Erving and Athol has more to worry about with Pan Am’s abysmal maintenance and all of the propane they are moving to New Hampshire and Maine.

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NativeSon508 t1_j95r56f wrote

Yes but it’s because people hate on pipelines so much that we have to do this by rail and often by truck instead. Make it make sense

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Ignitemare t1_j95yiw2 wrote

I wish I could, friend.

In theory that's what regulatory bodies are supposed to do? Mitigate risk and make sure that if rail is one of our few options to transport such things, it's done safely.

People on both sides of the aisle have had a hand in gutting those agencies and policies because the lobbies have a fuck load of cash to throw around.

The simplest answers are unfortunately the hardest to accomplish. Nationalize the rails and airlines so that it's under the direct purview of the DoT and will be less motivated by profit (hopefully)

Or get the lobbyists to GTFO. Which... I mean. I'm not holding my breath for that one.

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CLS4L t1_j95wpl4 wrote

They have engins in Ayer now today

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MeEvilBob t1_j960db1 wrote

That's "through power", all freight trains through Ayer are CSX, but sometimes CSX will rent the locomotives from NS when they pick up the train to haul it to the yard it's going to, then those locomotives will go back west on another train. This way they don't have to run as much "light power" (locomotive(s) with no train).

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