Minnesota lawmakers want rail industry to pay for more inspectors
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The railroad industry is pushing back against efforts to make them pay for more inspectors to review rail infrastructure and operations.
The DFL proposal, part of a larger transportation-funding package, would increase the number of inspectors from four to six and require the railroads to shoulder the cost of the additional two inspectors. The industry already pays for the current inspectors, which it claims is a $1.3 million annual expense.
But Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, believes Thursday morning’s train derailment in Raymond, which included tankers filled with ethanol, underscores a need for more regulation.
“We don’t have enough inspectors to prevent these accidents happening in the first place,” Hornstein told 5 INVESTIGATES. “The railroads are fighting this. They will be fighting the bill tomorrow and we really have to start putting people and communities above profit.”
Industry officials said Thursday’s derailment doesn’t change their minds about the proposal because it still puts an additional burden on the companies.
Investigators examine the site of where train cars carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Raymond, Minn. (KSTP)
“If the state wishes to add more inspectors to its rail program, it should bear the cost of these additional state employees,” Sarah Erickson, executive director of the Minnesota Regional Railroads Association, wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “To single out railroads as a ‘cash cow’ for funding to a state program, is unfair and inconsistent with previous agreements made in good faith.”
The so-called transportation omnibus bill faces a likely vote in a House committee Friday morning. A similar measure will also be heard in the Senate’s transportation committee Friday afternoon.
No one was injured in Thursday’s derailment. Gov. Tim Walz, standing alongside BNSF executives in a small Prinsburg church, touted the company’s efforts to upgrade its fleet of tanker cars to a newer, more insulated model required by federal regulators.
Current inspectors work in partnership with federal inspectors and are overseen by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In 2014, Minnesota lawmakers started requiring railroad companies to pay for the inspectors after a train derailment months earlier near Casselton, North Dakota, caused at least $13.5 million in immediate damages.