County Approves New Rail Safety Training Site In Bristol Twp.

The Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon.
Credit: LevittownNow.com

Bristol Township will be home to Pennsylvania’s first advanced rail incident training facility for emergency personnel thanks to a new agreement approved last week by the Bucks County Commissioners.

The commissioners, which are made up of two Democrats and one Republican, authorized a partnership with Bucks County Community College, Dow Chemical, and Conrail to construct a rail spur on county-owned land in the Croydon section of Bristol Township.

The facility will allow firefighters, emergency medical crews, police, and other first responders to train for hazardous rail incidents locally.

“This is several years in the making and we’re really proud of the partnership that we have here that we can move forward on because we think it is going to mean a lot for public safety in this county,” said Commissioners Chairperson Bob Harvie. “It’s something that is unique throughout Pennsylvania. I don’t think it’s done anywhere else.”

Conrail will construct the rail spur at no cost to the county on land leased to Bucks County Community College’s Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center on River Road in the Croydon section of Bristol Township.

Dow Chemical will supply mobile safety trains for the state-of-the-art training, according to officials.

Tracy Timby, vice president for workforce and strategic partnerships at Bucks County Community College, noted the importance of the new facility.

“Train derailments remain a very concerning significant concern in the US with an average of 1,000 derailments per year. And currently the most advanced training is in Colorado,” Timby said. The new facility will save local first responders significant expense by removing the need for out-of-state travel for specialized training.

“This program is designed to serve firefighters, EMTs, police and other emergency personnel to train them in the skills that they need to be able to respond to hazardous rail incidents,” Timby added.

The project has attracted interest from both public and private sectors. Dow Chemical, which is located nearby, currently sends its employees to Colorado for similar training, officials said.

“Not only are we talking about firefighter interest, but also the employers that we have in the area, because a lot of those trains that come through carry hazardous materials,” Timby said. “And that’s really the threat in addition to the derailment and the threat to human life. It’s what those trains are carrying and knowing how to contain that problem.”

Harvie noted the extensive of a large freight rail network in Bucks County.

File photo. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

“We have a lot of rail, especially freight rail, in this county that crisscrosses the county in multiple areas,” he said.

Timby described the project as “an investment in community safety and first responder confidence in the county.”

“We’re really taking a leadership role in the region for emergency preparedness with moving forward with this project,” she added.

The commissioners unanimously approved the agreement.

The community college plans to have the training site opened in 2026.

Harvie stated he anticipates the facility will attract emergency personnel from beyond Bucks County.

“We’re going to get fire companies from all over who are going to come here to do this,” Harvie said. “That’s obviously only good for public safety in general, but also for the community college and for Bucks County to be that place for people to talk about going and doing that.”

The new rail training area will be part of the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center, one of two training centers operated by Bucks County Community College. The college’s other training center is located in Doylestown Township.

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