Rockland Mom Sounding Alarm About Dangers Of Oil Trains

WEST NYACK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Sarah McTasney says eventually she would like to start an official group warning of the dangers of oil-filled railroad cars chugging through Rockland County.

But for now, she's just a concerned single mother.

"Every night, I wake up sometime in the middle of the night and I hear the trains and I hear the whistles, and it just reminds me of how much is at stake," McTasney told WCBS 880's Jim Smith.

McTasney said her daughter's school, West Nyack Elementary School, is less than a half-mile from the tracks.

She now hopes to gain momentum to bring about change.

"It is markedly unsafe. In a hundred different ways, it is putting our communities in danger," McTasney said.

"The trains need to be stronger, shorter and slower.

The National Transportation Safety Board has put the most common oil rail car on its list of most-wanted safety improvements, saying their vulnerabilities could cause catastrophic damage during an accident.

"Because as it stands now, they're bombs waiting to happen," McTasney said.