Lawmakers’ attention to RR safety doesn’t amount to a hill of beans
Norfolk Southern has suffered another derailment — although this one, thank goodness, was more an inconvenience than a disaster. Monday morning, at the company’s rail yard near Portsmouth, Ohio, eight cars of a train carrying several thousand pounds of soybeans derailed.
Three of those cars turned over completely.
Scioto County Emergency Management Director Larry Mullins told WCHS the derailment was caused by extreme weather, which led rails at Norfolk Southern’s yard to freeze, thaw, become brittle and break.
It’s enough to make one wonder whether knowing such damage was possible prompted Norfolk Southern to inspect all its rails after the flaw was discovered.
In Scioto County, the derailment required a cleanup effort (crews from West Virginia were brought in to help), but no evacuation or health monitoring.
Mullins told WCHS the train was carrying grain. No hazardous materials were involved and there was no danger to the public.
But what if it had been carrying something other than 221,000 pounds of soybeans. What would the narrative be today?
We are rapidly approaching the statute of limitations on filing lawsuits against Norfolk Southern for damages inflicted by the 2023 derailment in East Palestine. Yes. It’s been two years.
Yet no movement has been made on the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. Among improvements proposed in the act were safer tank cars, increased fines for railroad safety violations, required defect detectors, and an expanded list of hazardous materials qualifying for even stricter safety precautions.
It is difficult imagine why lawmakers continue to sit on their hands regarding such an important safety measure — not just for the public, but for railroad employees, too. It shameful, but all the attention they have paid to protecting these people doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.