Amtrak 2009 Annual Report Download - page 6

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2009 Environmental Health & Safety Report
4
Success Stories - 2009
III. Success Stories in 2009
Each of the Amtrak Environmental Health and Safety functional areas had its own unique
success stories to report from 2009, ranging from enhancements to the onboard recycling
program to efforts to prevent the spread of flu among both employees and passengers the
creation of Safe-2-Safer. Following is a brief overview of what we consider our biggest
success stories of the year.
Environmental
Amtrak’ s project managers continued to advance various environmental projects during
2009, including a number of site remediation projects, asbestos abatement at a number of
Amtrak facilities and environmental risk reduction projects.
Efforts to remove groundwater contamination continued at Sunnyside Yard in New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. Soil remediation plans were being developed
for Cedar Hill, Sunnyside and Wilmington. More contaminated soil at track level was
removed from Penn Station in New York City and at various substations in the Northeast
Corridor. Remedial investigations were initiated in Wilmington’ s North Yard and at Ivy
City in Washington, D.C.
The largest asbestos abatement project for 2009 was
the out-of-service steam plant in Philadelphia’ s Penn
Coach Yard. Asbestos and other hazardous materials
were removed from the steam plant and the adjacent
service building in preparation for the demolition of
the two structures, which was completed in
November of 2009.
Environmental risk reduction projects included improvements to the secondary
containment area for truck deliveries in Chicago, while hazardous material storage sheds
were purchased and installed at various locations.
On the recycling front, a campaign to provide recycling receptacles on all food service cars
was completed, and new recycling containers with roll-out bins were designed for
installation on all Acela train sets in 2010.
Public Health
The Amtrak Public Health group continued its role of providing public health/sanitation
standards and monitoring food, water and sanitation issues. Key among activities
undertaken by the group in 2009 were implementation of Amtrak’ s new contracted pest
control service, which began in October, and preparation for the rollout of the Backflow