Court Hearing Moved For Gas-Filled Train Cars Near WMC, Halt Order Remains

Long Valley, N.J. – The hearing scheduled before Judge Stephen Hansbury in Superior Court in Morristown regarding butane-filled train cars being stored on railroad tracks near West Morris Central has been postponed nine days, the county announced.

The issue arose earlier this month when it was learned the Morristown & Erie Railway running through Washington Township, Mt. Olive Township, and Roxbury Township was storing butane-filled train cars along the High Bridge Line without having warned the county’s emergency management officials or putting an emergency plan in place.

The hearing has been moved to June 28, and the order put in place by Judge Hansbury previously will remain in effect until then.

Judge Stephen Hansbury directed Morristown & Erie Railway to work with Morris County to come up with viable safety and emergency response plans to deal with rail cars filled with butane that are being stored on the track of the High Bridge Rail Line in western Morris County, officials said.

In addition, no more rail cars may be added to the 18 that have already been stored on the tracks at least until a June 20 hearing in Morristown.

The railway was planning on storing up to 100 cars on the tracks filled with butane.

See related: Gas-Filled Train Cars Being Stored Near West Morris Central Campus

In legal filings the county also charged that Morristown & Erie railway did not properly alert county and local fire and emergency responders to the storage plan, and does not have a plan in place. The High Bridge Branch runs through Washington and Mt. Olive townships as well as Roxbury.According to M&E, the High Bridge Branch is a 7.3-mile line that has been in operation since 1986. The branch begins at the Ferromonte Junction, where it connects to the Chester Branch, and travels through Roxbury, Mt. Olive, and Flanders.

The tracks begin roughly 2,000 feet from Central’s school building.

The contract between Morris County and M&E is five years in length and due to expire June 30, 2017.

“At no point was I, nor any of my staff, contacted by anyone from M&E to discuss emergency response preparedness or contingency plans,’’ said Scott DiGiralomo, Morris County Director of Law and Public Safety and County Emergency Management Coordinator. “In essence, the loaded rail cars were moved into the county before the emergency response community had the opportunity to plan a specific response for an emergency involving a large number of LPG (propane and butane containing) rail cars.’’

The Morris County Office of Emergency Management has been working with emergency responders from the three involved towns to prepare for a possible incident.

“The Morris County Office of Emergency Management in coordination with the Morris County municipalities and their emergency response services, recognize the need for a coordinated response for these low probability, high impact incidents,” the organization said in a statement to Patch. “As a result, we have joined together in the development of a Rail Incident Response Plan to deal with any issues that were to develop while these rail tank cars travel through and/or remain stored within Morris County.”