Pan Am Railways may be doing a terrific job hauling freight, but the company’s public relations performance leaves too many communities on a side track.

Pan Am, which transports freight throughout New England and has a rail yard in East Deerfield, seems to take the approach that less news is good news. The latest communications sidetrack for the rail company involves the recent derailment on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls.

The last four cars of a train moving 114 grain cars derailed, chewed up the pavement and twisted the rails at Ashfield and Elm streets at about 2:40 a.m. on Dec. 18.

Thankfully, no one was badly injured and there was no fuel spill or hazardous materials incident. Even so, one unaware driver who inadvertently drove over a damaged crossing early that morning reportedly got tossed around inside his vehicle, banging his head.

The issue here isn’t the accident itself, but the time it took Pan Am to tell local police and fire departments about the derailment.

Pan Am spokeswoman Cynthia Scarano said, “We did immediately call Shelburne (state police) dispatch to let them know that two crossings were closed.”

But Massachusetts State Police reported getting the information from Shelburne Control regional dispatch around 5:50 a.m., and Buckland Police Chief James Hicks said his department was notified at 6:15 a.m.

“We had two (railroad) crossings in town that couldn’t be used,” Shelburne Falls Fire Chief Rick Bardwell later complained. “It would have been nice to have known that ... It doesn’t cost anything to say, ‘We’ve had a derailment.’ It’s more of a courtesy, a simple courtesy in a timely way.”

But there’s more here than just timing. State Rep. Stephen Kulik, a Democrat from Worthington, told The Recorder that Pan Am didn’t tell state police the event was a derailment, instead calling it a “mechanical failure.” That description may explain why dispatchers apparently didn’t feel a sense of urgency.

All of this leaves the public rightfully upset.

“This was a grain train, but it went right through the center of town, where there are a lot of homes,” said Buckland Select Board Chairman Rob Riggan. “We should be informed — even if it’s nothing. ... The story here was that no emergency people were notified in Buckland. They’re furious they didn’t get informed. These are people’s houses, people’s lives.”

Communication can go a long way to build goodwill between the railroad and its host communities. Only one person apparently was hurt in this case, but it’s easy to imagine a more serious accident where such lax or imprecise notification would cause more harm.

It seems that the railroad company’s protocol in any derailment or accident ought to default to more notification than absolutely necessary, and sooner.

On its website, Pan Am says its “mission is to be the leading freight transportation company in our region. We will meet this expectation by combining the economies of rail transportation with the highest levels of safety and service in order to provide value to our customers and the communities through which we pass.”

It’s easy to say, but actions speak louder than words.

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