The federal government today is proposing that railroads traveling through Michigan, and across the country, automatically inform first responders of all cargo on board a train, whenever there’s a derailment.
The nation’s half-dozen largest railroads already have an app available, and printed copies inside a locomotive, where emergency workers can look up what the train is carrying.
And those railroads are supposed to remain in contact with first responders all along a train’s route.
But a new rule, proposed by the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, would require all 600 railroads that transport chemicals, to electronically push out to emergency crews a list of the cargo on any train that de-rails.
Officials say that could save time, and perhaps lives.
The proposed rule comes as federal regulators are gearing up for hearings on the response to the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which included disposing some toxic waste from the site in Michigan.