SP Offers to Buy Damaged Homes, Create a Greenbelt

The Southern Pacific Railroad has offered to buy 11 homes damaged by a runaway freight train and will convert the trackside crash site into a permanent greenbelt, San Bernardino Mayor Evlyn Wilcox announced Tuesday.

Under an agreement between the city and railroad officials, Southern Pacific will also provide 90 days of free lodging to displaced residents and pay moving costs within a 50-mile radius of Duffy Street, where two children and two trainmen died when the 69-car freight jumped the tracks Friday.

Moreover, Southern Pacific will cover the total cost of rescue efforts and cleanup of the wreckage and will defend the city from any lawsuits spawned by the derailment or any future accidents at the site, the eight-page agreement says.

“We sympathize with those who have suffered and lost so dearly in this tragedy and we know monetary compensation cannot repair the damage,” Mayor Wilcox said at a press conference. “But we’ve tried to start the healing with this agreement.”

Although the City Council had authorized its lawyers to seek a court injunction blocking the reopening of the rail line, City Atty. James F. Penman said concessions won through the agreement were far better than any remedy available through the courts.

“It’s extremely difficult to get an injunction against a nationwide transportation entity, and even if we had obtained one, another judge might have set it aside,” said Penman, who noted that there were “a lot of fights” between the city and the railroad during two days of negotiations over the accord.

City officials said they believe preserving the crash site as landscaped open space and prohibiting future development there offers the best protection possible from train accidents.

“The experts told us that if there is another derailment, it will happen at that curve,” Penman said.

Meanwhile, the last of the mangled steel locomotives strewn about the site was removed Tuesday, easing concerns that a buried gas line might be punctured by the heavy machinery. Residents evacuated from about 40 houses on Duffy and Donald streets were allowed to return home Tuesday morning.

A Southern Pacific spokesman said trains will resume traveling the busy stretch of elevated railroad tracks today. Traffic had been rerouted through the San Fernando Valley after Friday’s crash.

The Long Beach-bound train was traveling an estimated 90 m.p.h.--more than three times normal speed--when it plunged off a 30-foot flood levee and struck a row of homes in the mostly minority neighborhood. Seven of the houses already have been demolished.

Under Tuesday’s agreement, the railroad will offer to pay each owner of the 11 damaged homes the fair market value of the property before the derailment. In addition, Southern Pacific has agreed to enter binding arbitration to settle claims residents are expected to file for loss of furniture, automobiles and other belongings.

The agreement does not preclude residents from filing lawsuits against the railroad, and several homeowners already have hired attorneys.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the crash continued Tuesday, and officials said their on-site work is expected to wrap up by the weekend. Board members will then determine whether to conduct a public hearing on the derailment.

Although questions about what caused the train to race out of control remain unanswered, early evidence suggests that confusion about the weight of the train’s cargo of sal soda and braking problems likely played a role.

Southern Pacific spokesman Robert Taggart declined to comment on the NTSB’s initial findings but said, “We operate a safe railroad. Obviously, the NTSB will make recommendations during the course of and at the conclusion of its investigation, and we will follow them.”

Taggart said no “specific” reforms had yet been made in response to Friday’s disaster.