Morning Journal photo / Stephanie Elverd Andy Elkins, Association of American Railroads director of hazmat compliance, gives an in-depth look at the AskRail app to Columbiana County dispatcher Courtney Hill.

EAST PALESTINE — As legislation to enhance railway safety and potentially prevent another disaster like February’s Norfolk Southern train derailment remains pending at the federal level, Columbiana County took a step forward by downloanding the AskRail app.

AskRail is a software that can instantly provide anyone with access accurate up-to-date data of a train car’s contents and the dangers of that cargo.

The Association of American Railroads, working with member company Norfolk Southern, integrated AskRail into the Columbiana County and Beaver County emergency management agencies’ dispatching services.

“At Norfolk Southern, with our outreach to first responders, we’ve always talked about AskRail,” Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said. “We make sure that every fire department that comes to our training gets it on their phone. Every railroad does that, but with this program,the AAR is doing a lot more outreach to make sure dispatchers know where it is, how to get it and can get the training needed.”

Launched in 2014 as a collaborative effort by the rail industry, the AskRail app was developed in partnership with the emergency response community to deliver information that the AAR said “empowers first responders to make informed decisions swiftly during a rail emergency.”

Following East Palestine, AAR and the rail industry conducted a thorough risk assessment of AskRail to identify areas for improvement. Today, AskRail’s main objectives are to increase continuity of coverage and information, ensure reliability of communications streams and streamline communications to create a more efficient response with “a more centralized, universally accessible approach.”

HOW IT WORKS

The process is sophisticated, yet shockingly simple.

A rail car’s identifying number is typed into a search bar on the application’s homepage. Almost instantaneously, the car’s cargo, complete with the total weight of its contents in pounds and the type of car, is displayed. The cargo is immediately determined to be hazardous or non-hazardous and further identified as flammable or explosive.

An emergency contact number for the railroad is also displayed which, when clicked, places a direct call. With one click, a user can also access health dangers associated with the contents and access the universal emergency response guide set by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration , including the suggested evacuation distance.

With another click, the user can pinpoint the exact evaluation zone which is displayed on an interactive map. The user can also immediately view the entire consist (what is in or on each and every car) of the train in a list-view with hazardous cars highlighted.

The innovative mobile app can also be installed on first responder cell phones, but by integrating AskRail into the county dispatch and EMA, access to vital information is ensured via established, streamlined and reliable communications channels. Dispatchers can access the application at their desks and relay pertinent to first responders in the field or en route.

WAS A STRUGGLE

Such crucial information struggled to make its way into the correct hands in the minutes and even hours following the East Palestine derailment.

The consist was requested from Norfolk Southern at 9:04 p.m. by a call from East Palestine dispatch to Atlanta. Dispatch called again at 9:30 to determine if an evacuation of the town was warranted. No information was obtained from either call.

The consist finally reached the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency via email from Norfolk Southern at 9:56 p.m, nearly an hour after the train had derailed. It was 10 p.m. before East Palestine fire Chief Keith Drabick received a copy of the consist, and 10:23 p.m. before it reached East Liverpool Fire Department hazmat Chief Bill Jones’ hands.

The East Palestine police was given the consist at 1:30 a.m. and, at 2:15 a.m., Drabick found a hard copy sitting on a desk at the command post.

The lack of access to the train’s manifest that night not only endangered the safety of the public but it also put at risk the safety of the first responders who rushed to the scene with no knowledge of what they were rushing into.

“The app is going to be fantastic for us and it would have greatly assisted us in February when we had our incident here,” Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin said. “Being able to get that information out to the first responders — the fire, the EMS, the police — everyone who was all there that night would have greatly helped our response efforts. It would have brought to light everything, especially everything the fire side was dealing with, a lot quicker. With this AskRail app, we would have immediately known what we were dealing with.”

Nobody on the ground at the derailment site had access to AskRail, despite it being created nine years prior in the wake of other rail disasters — such as the accident in Graniteville, S.C., which spilled chlorine gas spill that killed nine and the derailment in Paulsboro, N.J., that released vinyl chloride.

MORE AVAILABILITY

While those disasters led to its invention, the East Palestine derailment should lead to a more widespread implementation of the app.

“Serving nearly every community across the nation, railroads are dedicated to preventing an accident before it happens and also bear the responsibility of equipping first responders with the right tools and training to manage a rail emergency safely and effectively,” AAR President Ian Jefferies said. “Following the East Palestine incident, railroads pledged to dramatically increase the availability of AskRail and today are providing more than 2.3 million first responders with streamlined and reliable access to this critical tool.”

Since its launch, nearly 50,000 emergency personnel in 49 states have downloaded the tool, but the current initiative is to get the app in dispatch centers at the request of PHMSA, which issued a safety notice in July encouraging emergency communications centers to “download, register, train on, and use available technologies, such as the AskRail.”

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration called the expansion of the application in Columbiana County and Beaver County “just one more step the railroads are taking to support first responders and protect the communities they serve.”

Officials from PHMSA were present for training this week in both Columbiana and Beaver counties, as was Columbiana County EMA Deputy Director Brian Rutledge.

The counties were chosen by the railroad to be one of first dispatch call centers to install the desktop program.

“We’re here from Norfolk Southern because we have worked very closely with these departments obviously over the last many months. We have developed a lot of close relationships and the relationships we have with those first responders are so important,” Spielmaker said. “The pilot program was in Tennessee and now Columbiana County and Beaver County in Pennsylvania are the first places we rolled this out in to make sure that information is available as quickly as possible in an emergency, to improve responses, keep first responders safe and keep the community safe.”

selverd@mojonew.com