Chlorine shippers: Not on our backs

Chlorine shippers: Not on our backs    The Chlorine Institute said Tuesday accused the Federal Railroad Administration of faulty analysis that could allow railroads to impose an unfair share of the costs of positive train control technology on shippers of chlorine and other toxic inhalation hazard chemicals an.
   The Arlington, Va.-based trade association for the chlor-alkali industry complained a cost-benefit study in a rule requiring railroads to implement positive train control “vastly understates the technology's benefits to the railroad industry and public.”
   The Chlorine Institute also complained of a “radical transformation of the railroad position regarding the benefits” of positive train control.
   The Association of American Railroads said in April that a report by consultants Oliver Wyman “clearly dispels assertions that there will be substantial business benefits to railroads that implement positive train control,” and that the costs of the systems “could hinder the railroads' ability to fund other safety technologies that might have greater commercial benefits to railroads and their customers.”
   The Chlorine Institute contrasted those statement with a 2008 presentation by Union Pacific on its version of positive train control, which was touted for its ability to “improve safety, velocity and fuel conservation” and “reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.”