Guilford blames Eastman (Kodak) for acid mishap

Once again, Guilford points the finger and claims it did everything by the book. Other parties involved beg to differ.

Read the newspaper article from the Salem News...

http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/s/thesto ... lug-acid27

According to the article in the Salem Evening News, Guilford wants to embargo future shipments to Eastman Gelatine because of the spill. No doubt Guilford would like to use this as an excuse to discontinue service altogether to Salem and Peabody thus ridding them of yet another branch line with local service.
If the tank car had leaked hydrochloric acid in the yard in Deerfield or the Albany area, would Guilford have blamed Eastman for the incident and waited for Eastman to respond? Come on, this is a railroad and a common carrier. In this day and age, transportation companies like Guilford have a responsible for planning and executing appropriate responses to incidents such as this. While I am not the biggest fan of the Department of Homeland Security, it is just this sort of incident the Department should be prodding transportation companies, municipalities and first responders to prepare for. Guilford should be taken to task for not having any plan.

charlie,I agree completely! Yup,an excuse to give up another branch line(yeah,I know,theyd put a few $$ into it recently),or make Eastman put up some kinda bond etc. Man,these guys are NEVER to blame. I wonder if Guilford can hire the North Korean rail officials,who were able to "hide"from the world,then the cause etc. of the horrible explosion there this week?? Yup,a GRS type of "official"! Bud

I think an appropriate punishment for Guilford would be for the feds to NOT ALLOW Guilford to embargo any track for 10 years.

Given the nature of the incident( hazardous materials), and Guilford's lame-assed response,for punisment, I have two words: Federal Recievership. Take Timmy Mellon's toys away from him if he refuses to "play well with others"....lts time to do something,NOW, before his negligent attitudes get lots of people killed or hurt.

And it gets even better....According to the Salem Evening News, the Mayor of Salem is demanding a meeting with Guilford , The State DOT, The FRA , etc..., to discusss"what to do" about those acid tankers passing through, and sometimes being stored "unattended for days at a time", in whats left of Salem's freight yards. I don't know how its going to shake out, but it looks like Timmy Mellon has found himself some "allies" now in embargoing the tracks there. Way to go, Mayor Stan.....Get your pics now, while you can.......

The end of deliveries of the acid cars to Eastman might not be the end of service on the Peabody Branch. Eastman would still need their cars of crushed bones, and the box company at the end of the branch would still need their boxcars of paper.

I don't know what the big deal is

I agree with Mick.
There is nothing wrong with asking the customer for their expertise when it came to dealing with the chemical in question. Even though it was not their car (until it was to be spotted) its a lot easier to ask someone local for assistance rather than waiting for the shipper to send someone out on a plane. But unfortunately in today's "Sue me - No Sue you" world, nobody is willing to be a good samaritan since there is no protection for you if you make a mistake or if things don't work out.

The regulations were followed. The controversy is that nobody wants to help when the poop hits the fan. So the last guy holding the bag, in this case the railroad, gets blamed. The politicians just like to placate the voters by telling them what they want to hear. These are the same voters who would complain of job losses if the company in town were to close. Can't have it both ways. The lawyers, politicians and business conglomerates run this country. We're all fat and happy as long as its Not In My Back Yard.

You're all right on the mark here guys......until you consider that the particular railroad in question is GUILFORD!!!! They have a very well earned reputation for not being the most communicative or cooperative in dealing with on line communities, but more to the point:They WANT the Peabody line embargoed.... they've been skimping on maintainence for years, probably hoping that some "incident" will give them an excuse to abandon that branch, just like they've abandoned every other customer in this area(Heck, I couldn't even begin to tell you the last time a maintenence crew was up heher, save to pick up the mess after another derailment...).How else do you explain some of there actions,like letting their prime intermodal yard in Maine be forclosed on, etc...? They've dumped just about every branch in the Boston area, regardless of how many or how good the customers there were. Timmy Mellon plays by his own rules, and to hell with anybody that doesn't like it apparently.

Happened to be in Salem yesterday. First time Ive never seen any cars in the North St. "yard" to/from Eastman and/or the cardboard plant. Checked out the yard around 10:00 and 4:00. Maybe the Salem Mayor has his wish after the acid incident? Also,are tanks of vegtable oil/olive oil still brought in there? Thanks,Bud.