John O’Neill (right) is talking about rail car safety while firefighters look on – photo submitted by G&U
HOPEDALE – The Safety Train, a nationally active rail car based training program headquartered in West Springfield, is making a two-day stop at the Grafton and Upton Railroad’s Hopedale transloading yard to train area firefighters on the latest methods to battle and contain rail car accidents.
Sponsored by the Grafton and Upton Railroad, along with Safety Train’s major sponsor CSX Transportation, the training, held on May 28 and 29, will cover various topics, including tank car identification, hazardous materials handling, different methods of handling accidents with high pressure v. low pressure tank cars, and how to safely shut down various types of locomotives.
“This is one more effort we are making to ensure we have the safest operation we can possibly have,” said G&U owner Jon Delli Priscoli. “The Safety Train is the pre-eminent rail car safety organization in the country and I thought it very important to bring this program to our area fire departments.”
The G&U on its own has run several trainings for area fire departments in the past, and has donated more than $80,000 in fire suppressing foam and the foam trailers to apply that foam to the fire departments in Upton, where most of the railroad’s tank car transloading takes place, and to Grafton, where the rail line takes customers’ rail cars from CSX.
The Safety Train’s John O’Neill, President of The Firefighters Safety and Training Foundation and a former lieutenant with the Sherborn Fire Department, started a rail car safety program back in 1994 as a way to help train volunteer call firefighters. About five years later, when the program began to grow exponentially, he started The Safety Train, gathering sponsors and rail cars along the way. Fifteen years later, The Safety Train program is rolling into Hopedale.
“This is about protecting the public and also about protecting the first responders who have to throw on the gear and rush in to an incident that others are trying to get away from as quickly as possible,” O’Neill said. “The information we give out at these trainings will literally save lives if an accident happens.”
O’Neill said he trains about 5,000 first responders a year all over the country. The organization has some 40 rail cars to accomplish its mission. In addition to firefighters, The Safety Train also trains police and other law enforcement organizations on how to respond to incidents that may occur on passenger trains.
Hopedale Fire Chief Thomas M. Daige coordinated the program, being offered in the Hopedale fire station and on the tracks in the G&U’s Hopedale yard a few blocks away. In addition to Hopedale, Daige invited the other three departments along the 16.5-mile long freight line, Grafton, Milford and Upton, along with Mendon, Millbury, Millville, and Northbridge. Last night, firefighters from Hopedale, Upton, Mendon, Northbridge, Grafton and Millbury attended. The program, which features two hours of classroom instruction and two hours of rail yard instruction, will be repeated tonight.
“This training is definitely needed,” said Chief Daige. “Any information we can get on how to control emergency situations is going to be beneficial to us.”
UPTON DAILY 
Good.