Study Proposes Rerouting Hazmat Trains to Maryland

Freight trains, including those carrying hazardous materials, could be rerouted from the District to Prince George's and Charles counties under proposed alternatives to be presented today by the National Capital Planning Commission.

Trains carrying hazardous materials travel along the Interstate 95 corridor and pass through downtown, close to the Mall and U.S. Capitol. For the past few years, D.C. and federal officials have argued that this traffic poses a security risk to the nation's capital.

Three alternative routes -- two that would go through Maryland and a third that would pass through a secure underground tunnel in the District -- are detailed in a feasibility study the commission will release this morning. A draft of the study was obtained yesterday by The Washington Post.

Maryland officials said they oppose the two suggested routes that would carry an estimated 30 freight trains per day through Bowie, Upper Marlboro, Waldorf and La Plata.

"What their proposal does is to take what they consider to be dangerous cargo and the risk of terrorist attack and shift it to Maryland," said Del. Murray D. Levy (D), chairman of the Charles delegation. "They just move it to our neighborhood."

The commission, a regional planning agency, does not have jurisdiction over the route and conducted the study at the request of the D.C. Department of Transportation.

Any decision on the study would be made by the federal government, said commission planning director William G. Dowd.

The proposals would cost $4.3 billion to $5.3 billion. The report does not state whether public funds, private funds or a combination would pay for the routes, Dowd said.

CSX Transportation Inc., the Jacksonville, Fla.-based rail giant, owns and operates the existing lines in the District and suburban Maryland. The company would not comment on the proposals other than to say it is aware of the study and cooperated fully with the commission, company spokesman Robert Sullivan said.

CSX still carries hazardous materials through the city, but in 2004, the company began rerouting its most hazardous cargo. "That situation has not changed," Sullivan said, declining to provide further details about cargo traffic.

The company moves about 8,500 chemical-laden cars a year through the city. Some of these cars carry toxic materials, such as chlorine.

The most expensive alternative in the study calls for building a secure eight-mile underground tunnel through the District from Potomac Yard to the Maryland border.