WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has asked the National Transportation Safety Board to expand its planned investigation into Norfolk Southern safety practices to cover all Class I railroads, the website Politico reports.
The NTSB announced its plan to conduct a special investigation of NS — the first of a railroad since 2014 — earlier this month, citing “the number and significance” of recent accidents [see “NTSB launches special investigation …,” Trains News Wire, March 7, 2023].
In a letter today to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, Schumer cites “a troubling and fatal combination” of deregulation, more than 26,500 accidents in five years, and cuts of more than 30,000 workers in the same period in saying it is “jarringly evident that the freight rail industry is in desperate need of a full and comprehensive investigation.”
He asks that the safety board considers a half-dozen questions, among them how “degulatory pushes have contributed to these derailments and increase in deaths” and whether railroads “have a culture of ignoring their own safety standards.”
Schumer’s letter also asserts that “Congress — and the American people — desperately need greater insight into an industry that lacks transparency and clear safety standards all while transporting hazardous and toxic materials through American communities each day.”
The move is the latest on Capitol Hill in response to the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment and toxic-chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, as well as subsequent incidents. Other actions include introduction of the Rail Safety Act by a bipartisan group of senators [see “Senators propose tighter regulations …,” Trains News Wire, March 1, 2023] and last week’s hearing on the derailment by the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, which featured lengthy questioning of NS CEO Alan Shaw [see “Senate committee grills Norfolk Southern CEO …,” News Wire, March 9, 2023].
Gee, and here I thought the NTSB investigated accidents.
Gosh, I thought the Federal Railroad Administration was in charge of regulating the railroads!?!?
Make the FRA & DOT get off their cans and actually regulate the RRs for safety. STB can get off their can & push to abandon PSR.
Schumer is partially right – the railroads do need to have their safety practices and procedures investigated. However, all he’s really interested in is grandstanding and drawing attention to himself, while attempting to gain more control over another major sector of the economy. There is a saying that the most dangerous place to be in DC is between Schumer and a TV camera, with good reason.
The problem isn’t deregulation – it is the huge reductions in the workforce that occurred around 2017 with the introduction of PSR, cutting jobs while expecting those who remained to keep up with the workload. The outcome was inevitable and the railroads have no one to blame but themselves.
How about calling Schumer out for his blatant lie about there being 26,500 accidents over the last 5 years is almost guaranteed to be an exaggeration. Especially since FRA statistics will tell you that derailments are accidents have been going down year after year after year. The only reason they’re more in the news now is entirely because of cell phone cameras and social media.
The repeated video coverage of fires the night of the derailment and later the huge smoke plume from the vinyl chloride release will result in all Class 1 freight railroads being put under a regulatory microscope. As a former television news reporter I know video is everything, no video, no story. These pictures are very dramatic and are being played over and over again. So now politicians from both parties are in a race to pass regulatory laws to show the public that they are doing something.
If Congress widens the scope of railroad safety practices, it should also include all of the railroad unions to see what their contributions may have been.
Mr. Schumer does not realize the 4 major class 1s behave like monopolies.
Agreed. And to add insult to injury, Sen. Schumer helped push the idea of making the arsonist damaged Poughkeepsie River Bridge over the Hudson River into a tourist attraction, putting the finishing touches on no competition for Conrail, et al. L&HR RR was the route that allowed the New Haven RR to interchange with the regional carrier, Lehigh and Hudson River RR, at Maybrook, NY., that ran through S.E. NY, and northern NJ to Easton, PA. (I once tried to apply for a job with them in the early 70s during a brief furlough, at their Warwick, NY headquarters). That Poughkeesie bridge should have been repaired and preserved in the interest of national security and fair RR competition. Perhaps it could still be repaired in some kind of national emergency??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkway_over_the_Hudson
I wonder if this call for investigation will include a look back prior to deregulation to see where safety has degraded since deregulation and where it has improved.
The FRA has some interesting data (https://www.bts.gov/content/train-fatalities-injuries-and-accidents-type-accidenta). Hopefully this information will be further contextualized by the investigators to show rates on the basis of per ton-mile, per railroad employee, per route mile, etc.
All the class 1 railroads safety practices should be scrutinized. I’d like to see the CEOs forced to testify together, like the tobacco CEOs were forced to admit their practices. There should be public accountability of railroad practices.
Nobody noticed freight railroad derailments until East Palestine. Since East Palestine, America has woken up to he fact of derailments being a regular occurrence. Good morning, America! Happy new day!