RD411 - Report on the Progress in Implementing Rail Improvements to the Fredericksburg Rail Yard to Reduce Dwell Times of Hazardous Material Shipments - December 30, 2011


Executive Summary:
In 2010, the Mayfield Community Association began working with the Fredericksburg City Council, Senator R. Edward Houck and CSX Transportation Inc. (CSXT) to address concerns over the storage of hazardous materials at the Fredericksburg yard, a rail yard owned and operated by CSXT.

For many years, CSXT had staged classified hazardous material cars in its active Fredericksburg freight yard for delivery to rail customers in the Fredericksburg area. The Fredericksburg yard is at the central point of line between Richmond and Washington. Federal law (Title 49 CFR Part 174 et seq.) regulates the storage of CSXT railcars in Fredericksburg yard, since it falls under the purview of interstate commerce. This regulation sets a maximum allowable dwell time of 48 hours that a loaded classified hazardous material car can sit idle in an active railroad yard. Cars can, however, sit on leased trackage or industrial trackage for an extended period of time, outside of the requirements of Title 49 CFR Part 174 et seq.

The community’s recent concerns resulted from the introduction of ethanol to the Fredericksburg yard. TRANSFLO, a subsidiary of CSXT, opened an ethanol transloading facility in the Bowman Industrial Park in Spotsylvania County, and used the Fredericksburg yard to stage ethanol cars prior to delivery to the Bowman Center. A provision in Spotsylvania County’s special use permit (SUP) for the TRANSFLO terminal limits to ten the number of ethanol cars—full or empty—that can be present in the County at any one time. As a result, ethanol loads were staged in the Fredericksburg yard for a longer period of time than would be optimal for the efficient operations of a transloading facility.

Senator Houck served as a mediator between CSXT and the community regarding the hazardous materials, while maintaining that CSXT was in compliance with Federal regulations. In a letter dated February 21, 2011, CSXT proposed multiple potential options related to the movement and storage of hazardous material in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania which would address the Mayfield Community Association’s concerns. These options ranged from infrastructure improvements to changes in CSXT traffic and staging operations.

The negotiations between CSXT and Senator Houck resulted in legislation in the 2011 Acts of Assembly enabling the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) to enter into Agreement with CSXT for improvements to reduce average dwell times to not longer than 24 hours. The legislation authorized the use of Industrial Railroad Track funds in FY11 and FY12. Improvements could include, but are not limited to, those that (i) increase capacity at existing storage facilities terminating near Fredericksburg; (ii) increase the physical distance between commodity storage areas and residential communities; and (iii) transfer intermediate storage of commodities to locations closer to terminus of the shipment.

Item 448 also included requirements that the Director of DRPT report to the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees by September 1st and December 31st on the progress in achieving a reduction in dwell times of hazardous materials in Fredericksburg Yard. This report fulfills that requirement.