Critic says poor rail line maintenance is to blame

NASHUA – No official reason has been given for Tuesday’s derailment, but Peter Burling, chairman of the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority, thinks he knows the root cause: Poor maintenance by Pan Am Railways.

“What has happened here is a perfectly predictable accident – but it’s hard to describe it as an accident, since the probabilities were so clear it was going to take place,” Burling said Tuesday. “The only thing we didn’t know is when and where.”

Calls to Pan Am Railways seeking comment were not returned Tuesday. However, David Fink, president of Pan Am was at the scene of the derailment Tuesday, and pointed to problems with the suspension assembly of one of the cars as a possible cause.

Asked whether he thought there was a problem with the tracks, Fink said, “We’re looking at everything, but we don’t think so.”

Burling, a former state Senator, and the rail authority have a long history of dispute with Pan Am, formerly known as Guilford Transportation.

It flared up again this summer when Pan Am pulled out of ongoing negotiations with the state over operating rights on its track in the state, citing concerns about operations on a line it leases through Milford.

This pullout, Burling said Tuesday, scuttled attempts to get $300 million of federal stimulus funding to pay for rail-line upgrades that are needed if passenger rail, or even expanded freight rail, can come to New Hampshire.

Burling said Tuesday’s accident, occurring on a stretch of line with a speed limit of under 10 mph for large freight trains, made the upgrade more important.

“A horrendously dilapidated railroad system has caused a slow-moving coal train to fall off the tracks,” Burling said.

“The point is not to say ‘I told you so,’ but to say this is why we feel it is so important to get this line upgraded, and to maintain it for passenger and freight operations,” he added. “We believe there are institutions of the federal government that can move to carry this along. I’m going to Washington in next couple of weeks to have further discussions about the issue.”

Pan Am Railways owns and operates the former Boston & Maine railroad lines in New Hampshire, including the line through Nashua, which was the main line from Boston to Montreal.

Pan Am and a subsidiary formed with Norfolk Southern this year, known as Pan Am Southern, run the trains on most of the lines.

Fink said an investigation into the cause of the derailment would likely go on for about a month because of metal that needs to be tested and other factors.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-5831 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.