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8NewsNow: Titus presses rail exec about train safety in Las Vegas, cites 8 News Now Investigators’ findings

By David Charns, 8 News Now

Democratic Nevada Rep. Dina Titus cited the 8 News Now Investigators’ reporting while pressing the president of a railroad trade group about safety on trains going through Las Vegas.

An 8 News Now Investigators’ report found neither the Federal Railroad Administration, nor any government agency, could say what specific hazardous materials the trains, some traveling right through Las Vegas, are carrying.

The American Association of Railroads’ fact sheet about what commodities run through Nevada was “redacted to preserve confidentiality.”

“What the trains are carrying is not shared with local jurisdictions,” a spokesperson for the City of Las Vegas said.

“You know those train lines go right down the Strip, right behind the Strip, right through the heart of town, but I hear from Las Vegas that maybe you’re notifying the state, and they have a person at the fusion center but they don’t seem to be getting that information,” Titus asked the trade group [AAO's] president and CEO, Ian Jeffries. “How can we improve that?”

“That’s something that I would love to sit down and talk more with your office about, because we want to make sure the right people are getting it,” Jeffries told Titus. “If they’re not getting it, let’s work and make sure that’s going to occur.”

Read the full piece here.