Post Falls creating its own train nightmare

In the Nov. 23 Press story about train noise, Post Falls said its primary responsibility in considering housing projects near railroad tracks is public safety, and that “grade separations” in the form of bridges or tunnels are needed to silence train horns. The city’s logic is questionable on both counts, as I’ll explain in a moment. Spoiler alert: People living near the Union Pacific (UP) track in Post Falls face far greater threats than the mere honking of horns.

First, let me point out that the UP rail line through the north side of Post Falls has been operating since about 1905. Up until the 1990s, it was surrounded mostly by farms, ranches, and rural land. Building hundreds of homes close to that railroad, and then complaining about the trains, is like building homes next to an airport or chemical plant or factory, and then complaining about the noise or smell or danger from those businesses.

I live next to the UP line, and I do feel sorry for those who have moved here without noticing the presence of a railroad and have come to dread the honking of trains through the numerous road crossings. But that honking is meant to get the attention of motorists in order to prevent the kind of accident that took a young life at the Spokane Street crossing a few years ago, a crossing which, at the time, had not been given the safety improvements needed to address the sudden increase in traffic from new residential growth in that part of town.

City leaders helped create the noise problem which so many residents now suffer through. But worse than that, Post Falls has allowed residential development close to a rail line that carries a high volume of Toxic Inhalation Hazard (TIH) cargo. Among the eight or more UP trains that pass through Post Falls every day, there are one or two that come south from Canada with dozens upon dozens of tank cars carrying anhydrous ammonia and molten sulfur, which can be deadly when released into the air or burned. Plus, tank cars of propane, crude oil and other stuff can explode or ignite fires when an accident occurs.

Does anyone remember the UP oil train that derailed in a fireball in Mosier, Ore., in 2016? That train rolled right through Post Falls the previous evening. UP runs about three of those oil trains through here every week.

Nothing wrong with that. UP and other shipping companies are paid to transport the raw materials and finished products that we all use: food, fertilizer, furniture, fuel and more. It’s not their fault when a city council authorizes residential sprawl within a few feet of a busy transportation corridor.

As for quiet zones, Rathdrum was able to silence BNSF’s horns at their Mill Street crossing by installing some relatively inexpensive curbing and signage. No bridges or tunnels were needed.

I’ve spent the past several years informing the current mayor of Post Falls, his predecessor, and local first responders about the number of trains, their speed (up to 49 mph), and the abundance of hazmat and crude passing through our city. I’ve posed to them the worst-case scenario of a derailment sending locomotives and railcars tearing through backyards and homes, or tank cars releasing a cloud of toxic gas. They’ve all told me they have the resources available in Post Falls and in neighboring communities to handle it.

Judging by the city’s inability to simply keep up with the snowplowing of its residential streets any more, I pray that its response to a train derailment is never put to the test.

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Bruce Kelly is a Post Falls resident.