Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Spokane City Council Asks UP to Halt Train Traffic Through Town Where Derailment Happened

An oil train burns near the town of Mosier last week.
Spokane's City Council is asking Union Pacific to halt train shipments of oil through the Columbia River town of Mosier, Oregon, until the oil tankers from Friday’s derailment are removed from the accident site.

According to the Spokesman-Review, the council voted 5-1 last night to make the nonbinding request, with councilman Mike Fagan voting against the resolution.

Last weekend, a train derailed, catching fire and forcing residents of the Columbia River Gorge town to evacuate. Just three days later, UP's trains were moving through the town again, even before the derailment mess was cleaned up. The town’s mayor and fire chief expressed concerns about running trains before an investigation was complete and the damaged tankers cleared.

The Spokane City Council’s resolution backs the city of Mosier’s request for a temporary halt in rail traffic until hazardous debris has been removed and the site has been inspected and declared safe. 
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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.