In an Aug. 27 letter to the editor, George Dorsey, a part-time Middlebury resident and a downtown business owner, reminded town and state leaders that part of the deal when it rebuilt the Merchant Row and Main Street bridges over Vermont Rail Systems railway tracks was to address looming safety concerns.

Dorsey, whose career was closely connected to moving large volumes of material over the rails nationwide (often fuel related), stated that while the rail-bridge project has been completed and well done, he wasn’t aware that safety issues had been addressed.

That responsibility is three-fold: it should be incumbent on the town to ensure a plan is in place, even as the direct responsibility falls to the Vermont Agency of Transportation, which owns the rail corridor and track infrastructure, as well as Vermont Rail System, which leases the tracks for its freight business.

But more than simply having a safety plan, it should be widely broadcast so town residents and downtown businesses know what to do in case potentially dangerous incidents occur in the downtown, or other stretches of the rail through Middlebury that could impact area residents or businesses.

Dorsey recalled two prior incidents in the Middlebury area in which railcars carrying explosive materials had derailed and were lying on their sides. In at least one incident, right in the downtown, fuel leaked out of one car. Fortunately, no explosion occurred.

Dorsey further notes that 60% of the freight traffic moving through Middlebury is carrying fuel to a superfund site in Burlington. The questions to ask are obvious: if a railcar carrying such fuel were to derail and spill, does Middlebury’s Fire Department have the right materials on site to put out a potential fire/explosion? If railcars carrying chlorine and ammonia gas overturn, is there a plan to protect area residents downwind of the gases, and do residents know about it?

Again, if there is a plan, it’s not well known, which to Dorsey’s point, it should be.

Dorsey also revisits other concerns related to toxic chemicals leaked in the tunnel and potentially having a negative impact on the Otter Creek. All of this is a strong nudge to the selectboard to implore them to not just have a safety plan, but actively promote it among business owners, employees and residents working and living in the downtown. That’s not just commonsense, it’s potentially disastrous if not done well.

Dorsey’s letter comes to mind because of a rail incident in Rutland last Friday, Sept. 11. A rail car carrying liquified propane derailed and rolled over near the Park Street rail crossing in Rutland. The Vermont State Hazmat Team, the Rutland City Fire Department and Vermont Rail System responded. No propane leaked from the rail car, so imminent danger was avoided. While the public was reportedly not put in danger, as a precaution a scheduled Monster Truck event at the nearby Vermont State Fair was postponed from that Saturday to Sunday, and crews were still burning off propane vapors from the rail car the following Monday.

In short, accidents happen. Dorsey also notes that while Class One trains are correctly judged to be safer than trucks on our nation’s highways, those are the nation’s largest train systems. Vermont’s much smaller railroads systems, he says, have “a very much worse safety record.”

That’s not a condemnation of Vermont’s rail systems, but rather even more reason for Middlebury—as well as Vergennes, New Haven, Leicester Center and Brandon—to make certain safety plans are up-to-date, and community training becomes an annual ritual — for everyone’s sake.

Angelo Lynn