Rail safety in question

Scott Dodd, Bruce Henderson and Heather Vogell of The Charlotte Observer examine railroad safety, finding that "in the Charlotte region, nearly 800,000 people live within a mile of a major rail line," an increase of 90,000 in the past 10 years. "Yet emergency planners don't know how much hazardous material passes daily through uptown Charlotte and the region's small towns. Federal, state and local agencies told the Observer they don't keep track, and the railroads won't provide that information for security reasons." Nearly 400 schools are located within a mile of train routes, and thus within the evacuation zone for accidents involving chemical materials.