Senators’ Statement on Pueblo Train Derailment
DENVER, CO – Senate Assistant Majority Leader Faith Winter, D-Broomfield, and Senators Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson County, Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, and Kevin Priola, D-Henderson, released a statement following a train derailment in Pueblo County:
“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. 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.
We are aware of numerous safety issues with our rail system in Colorado, which is why earlier this month, the Transportation Legislative Review Committee voted to approve legislation for the upcoming session of the General Assembly to address those concerns including limiting train length, increasing safety inspections, and including detectors to identify train defects in real time. 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. 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. We are committed to seeing this legislation’s passage as quickly as feasible, so that we may immediately work to reduce the risk of accidents like the ones in East Palestine and Pueblo.
As Colorado continues to grow, our rail-network will become even more critical to the sustainability of our state. We are committed to ensuring that the economic needs of our commercial rail system are met, without sacrificing the safety of our communities or our transportation professionals.”