Different picture of safey

I enjoyed BNSF Railway’s full-page advertisements in The Spokesman-Review (May 14), showing their safety program of BNSF employees inspecting the railroad bridge over I-90 at the bottom of Sunset Hill. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

I am just wondering why they don’t show a different photo of their safety programs in their ad? Say a photo of the railroad grain cars (could have been crude oil tank cars) derailed along U.S. 95 across the bridge over Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint, Idaho, a little north of where they want to put in a new bridge. With trains falling off the tracks and railroad/highway crossing lights and gates malfunctioning, don’t you wonder where the federal regulatory agency (FRA) that has the responsibility for railway safety is?

Back to the railroad bridge over I-90 at the bottom of Sunset Hill. This is within Spokane’s East/West Critical Commerce Zone; a derailment within this zone would severely impact hospitals, downtown, Spokane River and all east-to-west highway and rail traffic and there are very few highway detour options.

David W. Haderlie

Liberty Lake