SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Legislation by Senator Lois Wolk, D-Solano, to protect communities along rail lines secured passage from the Calif. Senate with a bipartisan 23-11 vote.
Senate Bill 730 requires trains and light engines carrying freight within California to be operated with an adequate crew size for public safety reasons.
“Today’s freight trains carry extremely dangerous materials, including Bakken crude oil, ethanol, anhydrous ammonia, liquefied petroleum gas, and acids that may pose significant health and safety risks to communities and our environment in the case of an accident,” Wolk said. “With more than 5,000 miles of railroad track that crisscrosses the state through wilderness and urban areas, the potential for derailment or other accidents containing these materials is an ever-present danger.”
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