(The Center Square) – Colorado Senate Democrats say new legislation to deal with railroad safety is coming following a train derailment north of Pueblo that left a semi-trailer truck driving force lifeless.
The Colorado State Patrol posted pictures of Sunday’s twist of fate, which closed I-25 in each instructions, on its social media account. Photographs display a lot of train automobiles transporting coal went off a BNSF railway. Another {photograph} displays the bridge over the freeway collapsed onto the semi-trailer truck.
The truck’s driving force, a 60-year-old guy, was once trapped within the twist of fate and died, consistent with a number of media experiences.
Senate Assistant Majority Leader Faith Winter, D-Broomfield, and Sens. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, and Kevin Priola, D-Henderson, launched a joint remark Sunday night time at the twist of fate.
“As Senators who have placed a heightened focus on transportation issues in both the legislature and our private careers, we are disappointed, but not surprised by today’s derailment in northern Pueblo County,” the remark stated. “At this time, we do not know the cause or the extent of economic and infrastructure damage. More importantly, we are desperately hoping for news of the safety of all transportation workers involved in this incident. Sadly, this event is not surprising.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted information at the get started of the investigation into the derailment on social media Sunday night time.
“In touch with Gov. [Jared] Polis and have been briefed by Federal Railroad and Federal Highway Administrations on a BNSF coal train derailment and bridge collapse … ,” Buttigieg posted on X, the platform previously referred to as Twitter. “U.S. Department of transportation staff are en route … State and local authorities are leading the immediate emergency response and we will be ready to help in any way needed to support a swift return to normal use for the highway and rail routes affected.”
Gov. Jared Polis stated in a remark the remark can’t start the method to reopen I-25 till approval from the government.
“We cannot begin our work to reopen the highway until the National Transportation Safety Board clears us to proceed and I urged Secretary Buttigieg to allow us to conduct debris removal as soon as possible,” he stated. “It is estimated that the debris removal phase could take as long as 48 hours, but I am ensuring that we are doing everything we can to complete it more quickly, including beginning preparations now so we can begin as soon as we are allowed to and save precious hours.”
The General Assembly’s Transportation Legislative Review Committee previous this month made railroad safety a concern for subsequent 12 months’s legislative consultation, consistent with the senators’ remark. It desires a focal point on restricting train duration, expanding safety inspections and together with detection generation to right away establish train defects.
“Efforts on this legislation began in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous hazardous material train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February of this year,” the remark stated. “Through the aftermath and investigation of that derailment, it became clear that our commercial rail transportation network has been subjected to ever increasing risk of accidents, with ever increasing severity when they do occur.”
The governor added: ““Our administration has been working for months to position Colorado to take advantage of the safety and rail investments that Congress and President Biden made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Sadly, those improvements come too late to prevent this incident but it’s clear that federal funds for rail support are critical for Colorado.”
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