When a freight train passes through Mansfield, Fire Chief John Roache can pull out his phone for a quick overview of what's onboard.
All U.S. freight railroads are required by federal law to carry hazardous materials. The National Association of American Railroads estimates about 2.2 million hazmat train cars are transported each year.
Each train is required to carry a hard-copy document — called a consist — with emergency points of contact and the contents of each car with hazardous cargo.
For emergency responders around the country, more of that information is now available in electronic form, thanks to new reporting requirements.
Those details can be crucial in the case of a derailment like the one that unfolded in Mansfield earlier this year.
The United States freight rail network is categorized by three classes of railroads. Class I railroads are the busiest; only one, CSX, runs through Connecticut.
Since last summer, Class I railroads have been required to provide an electronic version of the train consist, which is readily available for emergency responders in case of an incident. They must proactively provide it in an emergency, and test that process annually.
Starting June 24, that requirement extends to class II and III railroads.
Many already share electronic information with local agencies through the AskRail app, including rail operator Genesee & Wyoming (G&W), which transmits data from multiple railroads that travel through Connecticut.
That allows local officials like Roache to quickly access details about hazardous cargo.
“We can go online, we can look up the train and the contents,” Roache said.
The train that derailed in Mansfield was running along the Palmer subdivision mainline of the Class II New England Central Railroad — owned by G&W.
As we reported last month, records show a broken wheel rim caused train cars to go off the tracks. Six derailed cars were carrying hazardous liquefied petroleum gas. None leaked, though about 1,500 gallons of grease spilled onto the ground, requiring an extensive cleanup.
Roache said that the emergency response to that incident was coordinated well by the railroad and local, state and federal agencies.
“We've had some debriefs and some after-action reviews and meetings with them on what worked, what didn't work, how can we make the response better,” Roache said. “They've been pretty responsive.”
Roache said the fire department is scheduled for a formal class with the railroad on responding to derailments this summer.
Up until 2025, railroads were only required to share certain information with state and tribal emergency response commissions about hazardous materials onboard High-Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFTs). The state and tribal commissions then provided that information to local responders on request. And that requirement had only been in effect since 2015.
In order to be considered a HHFT, a train must have either 20 continuous tank cars loaded with class three flammable liquids, or 35 dispersed throughout the train.
Yet the 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that led to a release of hazardous material demonstrated a train doesn’t have to be considered a HHFT to be dangerous.
Of the cars that derailed, only 11 had hazardous cargo. The firefighters who responded didn’t know what substances were involved for more than half an hour after the accident. A year later, NPR reported the initial fire and a controlled burn that followed caused lingering negative effects to the environment and residents.
The accident spurred a national evaluation of HHFT railroads by the Federal Railroad Administration. It found the most common defect was inaccuracies on train consists. The administration also noted that information was not frequently shared with local governments and emergency responders.
In 2024, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration mandated that any train carrying hazardous materials must also keep an updated, electronic version of the train consist. The information must also be available to personnel along the train route who would respond to an emergency.
To account for the time needed to make the changes, the administration delayed compliance by a year for Class I, and two years for classes II and III.
It also gave Class III rail operators an alternative method to comply, allowing them to keep a written emergency plan instead of an electronic record. The plan must be shared with emergency response teams along the route and tested annually.
Rail operators are still in dialogue with federal regulators over the issue. In April, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association sent a letter to the safety administration on behalf of 500 railroads asking for Class II railroads to be eligible for the same alternative compliance procedures. The agency is still considering the petition.
