Senator Chuck Schumer stopped by Syracuse Tuesday to call on the Federal Transportation Department to propose a fix for flawed rail cars called the DOT 111.
He says the hundreds of cars that travel through the center of Syracuse every day are the same ones that derailed in Quebec a few weeks ago, killing dozens and wiping out a small town.
Schumer says retrofitting one of the DOT 111 railcars costs about $15,000, which he says is a small price to pay for railroads that are making a fortune on the new oil cargo. Schumer says 70% of the rail tankers are the unsafe DOT 111's, which can easily be re-purposed to the Midwest to carry less flammable substances.
Credit Maria Catanzarite, WAER News
