TRANSCAER awards honor Class I’s, short line

Written by Douglas John Bowen

TRANSCAER® (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) has honored several Class I railroads, and one short line, with the organization's 2011 National Awards.

TRANSCAER, a voluntary national outreach effort that focuses on assisting communities to prepare for and respond to a possible hazardous materials transportation incident, bestows the awards to those advocating, demonstrating, and implementing the principles of TRANSCAER at the national and regional levels.

Among the 2011 National Achievement Award winners: BNSF Railway; CN Dangerous Goods Team; Canadian Pacific; CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Corp.; and Union Pacific Railroad.

Among those receiving TRANSCAER’s Regional Achievement Award: Dave Buccolo, TRANSCAER’s Region 4 coordinator, from Stockton, Calif.-based short line Central California Traction Co.

The organization’s Torch Award, an inaugural award recognizing those individuals whose legacy leaves a lasting impact on the TRANSCAER program, was given to Norfolk Southern’s Mike Stiner, TRANSCAER Region 2 coordinator.

“Our 2011 training season, thanks in large part to the more than 60,000 emergency responders trained during our anhydrous ammonia tour, was the most impactful training year in TRANSCAER’s history,” said National TRANSCAER Task Group Chair Rollie Shook, of The Dow Chemical Co. “The TRANSCAER Awards program allows us to acknowledge and thank our dedicated volunteers for their truly remarkable accomplishments, demonstrated through their continuous efforts to ensure communities are prepared to deal with possible hazardous materials transportation related incidents.”

The organization will honor many of the award winners on May 22, during 25th Annual Association of American Railroads/Bureau of Explosive’s HazMat Seminar in St. Louis. AAR is a sponsor of TRANSCAER, along with the American Chemistry Council, CHEMTREC®, The Chlorine Institute, The Fertilizer Institute, and the Renewable Fuels Association.

The full list of current and previous award recipients is available by visiting the TRANSCAER Web site at www.transcaer.com/awards/past-award-recipients.

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