"One of the nation’s largest railroads has notified customers that it will stop shipping key chemicals used in water treatment and agriculture on Dec. 1, the latest development in a standoff over a year-end safety deadline few railroads are expected to meet.

Norfolk Southern told customers Tuesday that it would cease hauling poisonous-by-inhalation materials a month ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline to install positive train control, a collision avoidance system Congress required in 2008.

The materials include chlorine, which is used to purify municipal water supplies, and anhydrous ammonia, a key ingredient in fertilizer."

Curtis Tate reports for the McClatchy Washington Bureau October 20, 2015. [2]