Guilford - Boston Yard Acid Leak

The Salem News
Tuesday, April 27, 2004


Rail system points finger at Eastman Gelatine over delay in containing acid spill

By Tom Dalton


SALEM -- The rail system used to ship hydrochloric acid to Eastman Gelatine Corp. in Peabody said it was not responsible for an April 14 leak at a Boston rail yard. It blamed the extent of the incident on emergency response delays by the Peabody company, which orders the acid for its photo manufacturing business.

Eastman Gelatine said the allegation was "not true."

In a letter to Mayor Stanley Usovicz, the president of Guilford Rail System of Billerica said the rail firm plans to stop shipments of hydrochloric acid to Eastman Gelatine unless safety steps are taken "for the protection of the public."

In a two-page letter responding to a "grave concern" Usovicz raised over the storage of the tank cars in Salem, Guilford President Thomas F. Steiniger said such incidents are "largely out of Guilford's control."

"You should know ... that the release of hydrochloric acid on April 14 was not the result of any act or omission on the part of Guilford, and that Guilford's immediate response was a critical factor in ensuring that the safety of the public was not compromised," Steiniger said in a letter written yesterday to Usovicz.

"Moreover, I should also point out that this response was unnecessarily delayed because Eastman Gelatine Corporation was not willing to provide its expertise and equipment to assist in the response until much later in the day. As a result, Guilford and state and local responders were unable to immediately contain this release, although, luckily, this delay did not cause any injuries or property damage."

The April 14 leak at Guilford's Charlestown rail yard forced the evacuation of surrounding homes and shut down North of Boston commuter rail and subway service into the evening rush hour. No injuries were reported.

It was the third hydrochloric acid leak on the Guilford rail system in Massachusetts in the past six years, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Despite that, the company says it is "one of the safest railroads in the country."

Eastman Gelatine strongly denied that it was responsible for delays that made the situation worse.

"That's not true," said Paul Carter, the Eastman Gelatine services manager who handled the company's response that day.

He said Guilford discovered the leak around 9 a.m. at its Boston yard and called him around 10 a.m. He said the rail firm should have called an 800 phone number on the leaking rail car that would have mobilized an emergency response team under contract with PPG Industries, the acid manufacturer and shipper. At that point in the delivery, he said the acid is the responsibility of the manufacturer, the company that leases the tank car and the rail system -- not Eastman Gelatine.

"I called the shipper (PPG) to see if they were notified," Carter said. "Apparently they weren't."

When emergency officials at the scene told him the leak was getting worse, Carter said he called in Clean Harbors Inc., an emergency response team under contract with Eastman Gelatine. "That's something Guilford should have done at 9 in the morning," he said.

Carter said he went to the scene with one of his workers and brought along a band, or patch, which was used to stop the leak. He said they stayed well into the night to assist with the transfer of the hydrochloric acid, which was done by Boston emergency personnel.

"I don't know what more we could have done," Carter said. "We actually mobilized the emergency response team and sent materials to seal the leak."

In his letter, the Guilford president said that as a result of this incident the company has "embargoed" future shipments to Eastman Gelatine until it is convinced a safety plan is in place to protect the public.

"... Once the last of these cars that were already on-line are delivered, there will be no more movements of this commodity unless certain conditions are met," Steiniger said.

Eastman Gelatine receives an average of seven rail tank cars a week, each with 20,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid. The last car already on the rail line will arrive in about two weeks, Carter said. In addition, two to three trucks arrive daily in Peabody, each carrying about 6,000 gallons.

Carter said the company has been told of Guilford's plan to stop shipments. Lawyers from several companies are discussing the issue, he said. If the rail deliveries are stopped, he said Eastman Gelatine would have no choice but to order more trucks.

These developments come as a Salem City Council committee plans to meet tonight to discuss Guilford's storage of rail tank cars on railroad tracks along Bridge Street next to Leslie's Retreat Park in Salem. Although there is some confusion whether the tank cars are full or empty when they sit in Salem, Police Sgt. Michael Andreas, the city's anti-terrorism officer, said he believes they still contain the highly toxic acid.

Neighbors and city officials have complained for years about the potential hazard of the railroad cars, and their fears were only heightened after the incident.

Although a Guilford spokesman said the company does not plan to attend tonight's 6:30 meeting, an official from the Federal Railroad Administration is expected to be there, according to Public Health Committee Chairman Michael Bencal. Congressman John Tierney is also expected to send a representative.

Salem officials have been urging Guilford to store the cars at a city rail yard between Canal Street and Jefferson Avenue.

Neighbors along Bridge Street say they just want a safe resolution. Stanley Szwartz, co-chairperson of the Federal Street Neighborhood Association, said he hopes all the parties involved can get together to "solve a problem that could be catastrophic."

In a related development, Usovicz said he met yesterday with an official from Eastman Gelatine and was told the company is willing to store more of the tank cars on its Peabody property.

Carter, the Eastman Gelatine official, said he believes the situation can be improved if his company, the rail carrier and shipper work together to limit the number of rail cars arriving at Eastman Gelatine at one time, thus avoiding "bunches" of cars that have to be stored outside the plant.

"We can't take six in one day," Carter said.

 

Yes, you're right......a lot of finger pointing!
I checked some other news articles, but can't find any reason listed for the leak. Hopefully something will be released after the investigation.
Bill

 

I have never heard of a consignee being blamed for a problem with an intransit car that they have yet to receive! While this trackage is dispatched by Mass Bay Commuter Railroad personnel nearby at Mystic Junction I would think that Guilford would have their Chief Dispatcher in Billerica, MA ready to respond to any hazardous materials leaks on their system.

GRS has never been to generous acceptoing responsibility for its actions or operations.

 

Blue, welcome to TrainBoard........and thanks for your first post.
It seems that MBCR is the only entity not being blamed!!! Maybe all this finger pointing by each party is an attempt to reduce liability from the lawsuits that most likely will follow.
If this was the third leak in the last six years, and they were all cars leased to PPG, then maybe that fleet of cars is in need or repair or replacement.
The railroad is just a common carrier, and barring any misuse/abuse on their part, such as collision or derailment, it seems the liability is elsewhere. It's always too easy to blame the railroad. That being said however, it does seem the timeframe was too long in activating any type of emergency response team, and those procedures need to be reviewed and improved along with an updated training program. Your "central location" notifier idea, the dispatcher, seems to be the appropriate way to handle this, as they are staffed 24 hours a day.
Thanks again for your first post.
Bill

 

It seems like in a time of emergency like this, all affected parties should pitch in and help correct the problem including the consignee, if they have to equipment, materials or expertise to help. This joint effort would also include the railroad, the local Haz-Mat team, and other first responders like the fire and police departments. Protecting life and health is more important than who gets billed or blamed. I agree the time element is most important. Let's hope some positive lessons were learned.

 

It is a pleasure to be involved in a mature, responsible discussion. I'm glad I came across the site. I met the inbound local from Peabody this afternoon on one of my trains. They were sitting in the clear waiting for some congestion to pass so they could make their return trip to Boston. The local had two empty acid tank cars in the consist. Each car had a decal affixed to the side with a hazmat response protocol. While it would be important to gain the assistance of the consignee, the immediate responsibility of the carrier is to contact the local fire department and report the leak to the national response center maintained by the chemical manufacturers.

I have had prior experience interacting with local Hazmat response crews (Massachusetts has a number of strategically prepositioned mobile command centers and special response teams to deal with issues just like this.)
They seem quite qualified to handle responses like this. Things must have gone rather smoothly as the MBTA passed along a thank you and "atta-boy" to the staff of the MBCR for its "creative and timely" responses to the crisis. We did a pretty good job getting people home that night.

GRS has never maintained a "balanced" relationship with the communities or businesses it purports to serve. Their response seems typical to all its responses. My question through all of this is to wonder if the MBCR dispatchers that actually control this trackage have the proper recources to initiate a critical response?

Certainlly the MBTA would rather see all freight traffic on its commuter lines "dry up" regardless off the impact on jobs in the area.

Thanks for this great forum.

Joe