The Buffalo (NY) News, 7/16/18:
Another Voice: Cheektowaga train inspection resolution is off-target
By Paul A. Karas
The Town of Cheektowaga recently passed a resolution requesting that New York State resume rail safety inspections of crude-oil trains and asserted — without conducting any due diligence — that the state Department of Transportation has not conducted rail track, equipment and yard safety inspections since February 2017.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s direction, NYSDOT has continued its aggressive and comprehensive rail safety inspection practices since 2014. These routine and recurring inspections are augmented by targeted rail safety inspection “blitzes” of critical crude-oil routes, the most recent of which occurred on June 20, 2018. Had town officials reached out directly to NYSDOT, we could have easily told them as much.
Paul A. Karas is acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation
