Nearly 5,000 residents evacuated, more than $800 million in cleanup costs and one bipartisan rail safety bill stalled in Congress — those are some of the numbers that define last year’s fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Congressional lawmakers trying to tighten the screws on rail operators, many from Pennsylvania, say they’re being stonewalled by industry lobbyists more than a year after the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment.

Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate — including U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and John Fetterman, D-Braddock — have struggled to advance one bill in particular: the Railway Safety Act.

The Norfolk Southern derailment happened just over the Pennsylvania line in Ohio’s Columbiana County, but the disaster hit close to home for some Western Pennsylvanians.

Darlington, in northwestern Beaver County, faces ongoing cleanup from the toxic chemicals that spilled and were set on fire in a controlled burn-off. Many other municipalities in the region are at risk of a similar fate, according to a February report commissioned by Deluzio.

The Congressional Research Office found that 48% of Deluzio’s constituents live within 1 mile of a freight rail line and 95% live within 5 miles of one. Emergency responders in East Palestine implemented a 1-by-2-mile evacuation area following the derailment.

“The issue of rail safety is one that is very real and urgent for us in Western Pennsylvania, and another toxic derailment in our region could be devastating,” Deluzio said.

Deluzio represents Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, comprising part of Allegheny County and all of Beaver County.

Experts and advocates agree that legislative inaction could spell danger for Western Pennsylvania, a region with substantial fuel and chemical cargo traveling through densely populated areas. Freight rail lines don’t just run through Beaver County. They’re in the hearts of Pittsburgh, Greensburg, New Kensington and other municipalities across the region.

Glenn Olcerst of Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh said it’s only a matter of time before one or more of these communities have to deal with toxic fallout from a derailment.

“If our representatives don’t get a handle on this, what you’ll have is a Norfolk nightmare coming soon to a neighborhood near you,” Olcerst said.

Legislative progress

Railroad companies have won most regulatory battles in their almost 200 years of operation in the United States.

Independent rail consultant Fred Millar doesn’t expect that to change anytime soon.

“Railroads have always put a lot of money into their lobbying, and they have defeated most serious efforts at regulation, even after there’s been some real new concern like the recent accident in East Palestine,” Millar said. “They get what they want, mostly.”

The Railway Safety Act, introduced in both chambers of Congress in March, is the latest battleground. It calls for enhanced safety procedures on trains carrying hazardous materials, a minimum of two crew members, increased fines for wrongdoing, mandatory defect detectors and an accelerated transition to newer tank cars.

“This is an act that should have been passed 50 years ago,” Millar said. “This indicates a real catch-up mode of federal legislation.”

Millar said the bill doesn’t go far enough. He’d like to see federal rules that force railroads to carry safer chemical alternatives and reroute hazardous materials away from major cities.

Some of the safety measures included in the act represent a direct reply to the East Palestine derailment, caused by an overheated wheel bearing and worsened by outdated rail cars.

Norfolk Southern and CSX, the only Class 1 railroads operating in Pennsylvania, have revenues of more than $250 million a year. They spent a combined $3.9 million lobbying Congress in 2023, according to Open Secrets, an organization that tracks money in politics. The Railway Safety Act was a popular target for both companies, though it’s unclear what they’re pulling for.

Alan Shaw, Norfolk Southern CEO, spoke positively of the Railway Safety Act in a statement after the bill advanced out of the Senate committee process in May.

“We look forward to continuing our engagement with members of Congress on the issues, achieving a meaningful and effective new law and leading on safety measures within the industry,” Shaw said.

Deluzio tells a different story, blaming colleagues who have “decided to bow down” to industry lobbyists and stall the bill. Senate sponsors expect a tight vote, while Republican leaders in the House have kept it off the calendar altogether.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, sponsored the Senate bill that was cosponsored by six Republicans and five Democrats, while Deluzio sponsored the House bill that was cosponsored by nine Republicans and eight Democrats, according to congress.gov.

The bill’s supporters might face an uphill climb, but congressional action wouldn’t be unprecedented.

Following a series of fatal rail accidents, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act in 2008, adding regulations that govern track inspection standards, conductor certification and highway-rail grade crossings.

Self-regulation

Even as Norfolk Southern publicly embraces the work of policymakers, it’s not “waiting for legislation to act,” spokesman Connor Spielmaker said.

The rail operator committed in January to joining the Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System, or C3RS. Norfolk Southern is the first Class 1 railroad to do so, though the one-year pilot will apply to only a small fraction of its roughly 20,000 workers.

Spielmaker also noted that Norfolk Southern has lowered its temperature threshold to trigger a bearing inspection, among other safety measures. From 2022-23, noncrossing accidents in the Norfolk Southern system dropped by 10%, including a 40% reduction in mainline accidents, according to railroad administration data.

CSX did not respond to requests for comment on the legislation or safety measures.

Imminent risk

Derailments happen by the hundreds each year — the railroad administration logged 608 in 2023 — though relatively few result in death, injury or some kind of health risk.

Just this month, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Lower Saucon, a township in Eastern Pennsylvania. Though the accident had little impact, Fetterman and Casey pointed to it as evidence of the ongoing need for congressional action.

Even the East Palestine derailment could have been relatively harmless if decision-makers had full information from the chemical manufacturer, the National Transportation Safety Board found.

The decision to vent and burn vinyl chloride and other chemicals in the off-track cars rested with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, but local fire chiefs have authority over initial evacuations.

Fire departments play a significant role in responding to train accidents. All firefighters have basic training that teaches them to identify and react to chemicals, according to Chris Tantlinger, hazardous materials chief for Westmoreland County.

“All of the local fire departments, they regularly schedule their hazmat operations refresher,” Tantlinger said.

Well-resourced departments, such as the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, have trained hazardous materials technicians. Even without new legislation, Brian Kokkila, the bureau’s assistant chief of operations, said “good strides” are being made behind the scenes.

CSX and Norfolk Southern have conducted training with the bureau in recent years, a process Kokkila described as a learning experience for first responders and railroad safety teams. Participants must be compensated for their time, though.

“The challenge is the funding,” Kokkila said. “I don’t expect a guy to go to class for free.”

The Railway Safety Act could ease that burden by upping the fees paid by Class I railroads toward hazardous materials training grants.

Whatever happens to the bill, Kokkila said, it will be first responders dealing with the consequences.

“Every disaster begins and ends locally,” Kokkila said.

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