Less than one week after the D.C. Council voted to ban toxic chemicals from being transported through downtown Washington on freight trains, DCist saw a train with dozens of tankers some apparently containing industrial chemicals passing along a track which passes near many sensitive sites in city including Smithsonian museums, Union Station, and under part of the U.S. Capitol complex. The law does not take effect until signed by Mayor Williams, who has announced he intends to sign the legislation. The tankers included some labeled “phosphoric acid,” “chlorine,” and “sulphuric acid.” In January, nine people died and more were injured in South Carolina when a train accident released chlorine gas. A handful of others have died due to chemical leaks from trains in the past year, but railroad companies are quick to point out that trains are the safest means available for transporting hazardous materials — and have much better safety records than trucks. Many local organizations including the AFL-CIO Washington Council had lobbied in favor of the ban in D.C.

Last week the AP reported that Carol Schwartz, the only member of the D.C. Council to vote against the measure, said that CSX Corporation was already voluntarily rerouting hazardous materials around the city. Although it’s impossible to know whether the cars in these photos were full or empty, a January 20 news story reported over “5 million tons of hazardous materials” passed through Virginia in 2001, quoting three emergency response officials who said that trains carrying chemicals and nuclear materials regularly pass through Fairfax County, Arlington and Alexandria:

“Chlorine is transported through here all the time,” said Charles McCrory, Alexandria’s emergency management coordinator. “There’s a constant transport of hazardous materials. It’s kind of a fact of life.”