Railroad corporations took blow after blow Wednesday from city leaders at a time of heightened anxiety about deadly train wrecks in South Carolina.

During a meeting on railroad safety in Columbia, municipal leaders said train corporations are often difficult to deal with and uninterested in local opinions. Federal law limits city regulation of railroads.

“They don’t want to be bothered,” said Orangeburg city administrator John Yow, whose town wants Norfolk Southern to slow its trains because of safety concerns.

Florence city manager David Williams used “arrogance” to describe the attitude of the CSX corporation.

Representatives for the railroad industry were not invited to the meeting. But spokeswomen for Norfolk Southern and CSX, the state’s major railroads, denied the accusations, saying their corporations address cities’ complaints.

“We have a strong record of working closely with businesses and communities,” Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said.

Wednesday’s meeting, convened by the Municipal Association of South Carolina, was in response to a deadly train crash and chemical accident two months ago in Graniteville. Nine people died when poisonous chlorine gas leaked from a wrecked Norfolk Southern tanker car.

Since the wreck, local governments have said they want more information about chemicals on trains and ways to avoid similar accidents.

Howard Duvall, executive director of the municipal association, said the meeting was the first of several that might prompt the association to seek changes in state or federal law. But Duvall and others said many city concerns could be resolved if railroads were more willing to work with local governments.

About two dozen representatives of cities attended the meeting. They listed chemical safety as their top priority, but also voiced concerns about speeds and failure of gates at railroad-street crossings. Those attending included representatives of North Charleston, Sumter, Spartanburg and Irmo. Columbia, the state’s largest city, did not send a representative.

A number of the complaints about poor communication were directed at CSX.

In Greenwood, CSX was reluctant last year to clear vegetation along its tracks, city manager Steve Brown said. Brown said he has had to call top officials to get responses from the company.

Florence Fire Chief Joe Robertson said CSX needs to be more proactive in hazardous material training. City officials also said they are worried about CSX leaving chemicals on parked cars.

“There is no way of knowing the danger in the community because there is no communication,” Williams said.

CSX spokeswoman Meg Scheu declined to respond specifically to the Florence and Greenwood complaints.

“We try to be as responsive as we possibly can,” she said. “We are part of these communities.”

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com.