Housatonic Railroad

Another Housatonic Railroad Disaster Averted - April 5, 2010
Back up and running in 48 hours - April 7, 2010

Housatonic Railroad Train Carrying Ethanol Derails - March 29, 2010

BEAT is worried about allowing Methanol to be shipped on HRRC tracks - December 29, 2009

Housatonic Railroad is based in Canaan, Conn. HRRC operates two rail lines totaling on 161 miles of track. One line runs from Derby, CT to Beacon, N.Y. The Berkshire line runs from Danbury, CT to Pittsfield where it connects with the national rail system through CSX Transportation.
Check out Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team's (HEAT's) website about all their problems with the Housatonic Railroad.

Another Housatonic Railroad Disaster Averted - April 5, 2010

Around 5 pm on April 5th, Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)  received a phone call from Gretchen DeBartolo living along the Housatonic River near the Holmes Road and Pomeroy Ave bridges that the river was muddy brown and had stuff floating in it... lots of stuff. Jane Winn, Executive Director of BEAT, grabbed a camera and ran.

Jane joined several of the river neighbors near the corner of Holmes Road and Pomeroy Avenue, and we explored.

The river was fine at Fred Garner Park - both branches were clear. So the team traced the river from the Pomeroy Ave bridge (near Holmes Road/Miss Hall's School) upstream, where they came across what used to be a swampy area that was now a strongly flowing, muddy little river running into the Housatonic River. Following this muddy river upstream, they came to the source of the problem. What used to be a berm under the railroad tracks had completely washed away, and the water from a very full Morewood Lake was rushing down to the Housatonic River.

The water had washed about 30 feet of the berm away and the banks were still eroding, leaving the train tracks with their ties attached suspended above the gap. The river neighbors called 911 and were eventually connected to the fire department to whom they reported the problem and asked that the railroad be notified. BEAT also tried to call the Housatonic Railroad directly, but only connected to an answering machine.

Soon, the team was joined by James Conant, chair of the Pittsfield Conservation Commission and - I am not sure of his title but - he works for the Pittsfield Country Club. He and his family were investigating why the level of Morewood Lake was suddenly dropping. He apparently had been aware of beaver activity at a culvert that had been where the breach occurred. There was no sign of any culvert now!

We all agreed no train could make it over those tracks. And then we heard the train whistle!

Two of the river neighbors headed up the tracks in the direction of the whistle. They flagged down the train, whose engineers had been alerted by the fire department as well. The train stopped and the engineers agreed, the train would not make it over those tracks. We had saved them from another disaster that would have been much worse than the one in Lee last week. The engine would have gone straight down into the rushing water with definite injury to people.

Here is a link to photos.

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Back up and running in 48 hours - 4/7/2010

Within 48 hours the Housatonic Railroad installed a tiny black plastic culvert, filled in the berm apparently using no erosion control measures, and ran the engine over the tracks to pack it down. Is this how it is supposed to be done? Was this reported to the National Transportation Safety Board?

More photos

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Housatonic Railroad Train Carrying Ethanol Derails - March 29, 2010

The Housatonic Railroad had another accident. Seven train cars derailed at about 8pm Monday night, March 29, 2010. One of the tipped cars held thousands of gallons of ethanol, which luckily did not leak. Another car carrying lumber ended up in the Housatonic River. The accident occurred off Pine Street, just past the Oak and Spruce Resort.

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BEAT is worried about Methanol - 12/29/09

Interstate BioFuels submitted an Environmental Notification Form to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office to build a BioFuel processing facility right on the Housatonic River at an old mill in Lenoxdale. While we support the reuse of the mill buildings, and we do not think this is an appropriate place for a biofuel facility. We are extremely concern about methanol, a highly explosive chemical, being transported over Housatonic Railroad lines. There accident record scares us - and most of those accidents, if liquids had leaked, would have contaminated the Housatonic River.

In our comments, BEAT suggested several other locations that we felt would be much more appropriate - away from the river and not on Housatonic Railroad lines.

Here is what we said about Housatonic Railroad (or you can read our full comments here pdf):

Housatonic Railroad
BEAT is extremely concerned about potential problems with the Housatonic Railroad Company (HRRC). In the past ten years there have been at least four accidents on HRRC tracks that would have resulted in a spill into the river if the cars had been tank cars carrying a liquid and had ruptured. As part of the MEPA process, BEAT would like a detailed accident record for HRRC for the last 10 years entered into the public record.

BEAT is aware of many attempts to require HRRC to stop violating state environmental law by dumping solid waste along their tracks and sometimes even into wetlands. HRRC has stated publicly that they are not subject to state or local laws. We find this total disregard of the environment unacceptable. The proponent should try to work with HRRC to have them remove and properly dispose of their solid waste, both from abutting the proponent’s property, but all along the tracks as well. It is disturbing that rail is seen as the environmentally friendly form of transportation, but HRRC has such an abominable environmental record. We hope all concerned will help pressure HRRC to do the right thing.

Check out Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team's (HEAT's) website about all their problems with the Housatonic Railroad.

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