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INDIANAPOLIS — The Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has left the small community devastated and questions about the environmental and public health impact remain unanswered. It also spurred calls for action to hold the freight rail industry accountable and steps to prevent such a disaster from happening again.
In response to the National Transportation Safety Board’s initial report on the East Palestine derailment, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads Ian Jefferies promised that the rail industry would use the report to prevent similar accidents.
“We share a singular mission of taking meaningful steps to further improve safety,” Jefferies said in a statement on Feb. 23.
Still, the incident raises concerns about the safety of trains amid changes in how rail companies operate.
“It’s profits over people,” said Kenny Edwards, Indiana state legislative director for SMART Transportation Division, an industry workers union. “As they make cutbacks and changes, disasters like East Palestine will be more and more prevalent.”
Many of the changes stem from what’s called Precision Scheduled Railroading, a controversial innovation marked by longer trains, workforce cuts, and industry pushback against safety protocols.
MORE: Why the Ohio derailment disaster could happen more often
OHIO DERAILMENT INITIAL REPORT: Ohio train derailment happened moments after crew warned of axle overheating, NTSB says
Industry runs miles-long trains
A U.S. Government Accountability Report in 2017 found that the average length for freight trains in 2008 was under one mile. Since then, rail companies have extended train lengths as part of Precision Scheduled Railroading.
While the Association of American Railroads did not provide an average train length for 2022, the association said trains are less than 11,000 feet long or just over two miles long 95% of the time.
According to Edwards, longer trains have more equipment that could malfunction which can make it more difficult to handle.
The way a train is arranged or made up — meaning the mix of loaded and empty cars and locomotives — also can impact its stability. Those issues can be more pronounced on longer trains, the report found.
Slashes in the workforce
Rail unions believe the industry has gotten riskier in recent years after widespread job cuts left workers spread thin.
Since 2015, the major railroad companies have cut their workforce by 29%, or 45,000 employees, according to Congressional testimony last year.
“It is simply impossible to provide an equivalent level of service after eliminating a third of the workforce in less than a decade,” Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, testified.
For new employees, training also has declined from what used to be around six months to less than two months, Edwards said.
Pushes against regulation
Railroads spend heavily lobbying in Washington, according to records analyzed by Open Secrets, a transparency organization. Norfolk Southern, among the biggest spenders, paid $1.8 million to more than 30 lobbyists last year.
When the Trump administration announced plans to pare back rules, Norfolk Southern wrote a 23-page submission in 2017 that included rules and guidance it would like to see removed: “NS appreciates the opportunity to participate in this wide-sweeping, and necessary, review of the regulatory burdens…,” the letter said.
Just a few months before the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern’s CEO met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. A memo drafted by an agency lawyer revealed the purpose: So the CEO could raise concerns about a proposed rule requiring most trains to have two crew members.
Federal officials urge for safety violation changes
The Ohio train derailment has only heightened safety and regulation concerns over the nation’s freight railroads.
On Feb. 21, Buttigieg called for rail companies to immediately act on improving safety rules. Buttigieg said the Department of Transportation will hold Norfolk Southern accountable for any safety violations that contributed to the Feb. 3 crash.
Since then, the White House has called on congressional Republicans to increase safety violation fines levied on rail companies.
“The test will be whether Republicans work with the Biden-Harris administration to restore safety protections and pass legislation increasing fines on rail companies when they cause accidents like this,” said White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. “Do they stand with us and communities like East Palestine or are they still owned by the rail lobby?”
According to the White House, the current law says the highest fine that can be charged to companies for violations involving the transportation of hazardous materials is $225,455. That’s less than 1% of Norfolk Southern’s profits last year of $3.27 billion.
Contributing: Haley BeMiller, USA TODAY Network; The Associated Press
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