Ohio’s Brown continues pushing for new federal train regulations
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U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown believes passing the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023 will be difficult in the U.S. House, but the Ohio Democrat is confident new safety regulations will become law.
Speaking to city leaders and rail union workers late Wednesday afternoon in Columbus, Brown pushed the legislation that came in response to the Feb. 3 train derailment that continues to impact East Palestine, Ohio will become law.
"Railroad company lobbyists spent years fighting every effort to make our railroads safer, cutting more than 30% of their workers in less than 10 years, and now Ohioans are paying the price," Brown said. "It shouldn't take a train derailment for elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the people we serve - not corporations like Norfolk Southern."
Brown, along with Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, introduced the legislation in late February. Lawmakers have said the regulations would improve safety for trains carrying hazardous materials, prevent wheel bearing failures, require at least a two-person crew on Class 1 freight railroads, increase fines for safety violations and invest in crew and first responder training.
Transportation workers and the locomotive engineers and trainmen union support the new rules.
"We need to see accountability in the rail industry - Ohio residents shouldn’t have to wait six months or more to have their communities reopened when the railroads are up and running within hours," said John Esterly, Ohio state legislative board chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union.
It was Brown's second Ohio stop in a week.
Last week he appeared in Sandusky, at the site of an October 2022 Norfolk Southern derailment, pushing for quick passage of the new regulations.
The National Transportation and Safety Board investigated four Norfolk Southern derailments in Ohio in the past six months, as previously reported by The Center Square.
The East Palestine derailment Feb. 3 had the most impact. While no one was injured, tons of toxic chemicals were released into the ground, water and air. Cleanup continues at the continues at the site, while the state has sued the train company for reckless endangerment.
In its preliminary report, the NTSB ruled high temperatures led to a wheel bearing failure that caused the derailment.
Ohio lawmakers included several new rail safety regulations in its transportation budget, which was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine earlier this month. It requires wayside detectors to be installed between 10-15 miles apart with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio responsible for overseeing the installation.
It also requires the utilities commission to examine best practices for hot boxes, hot bearing detectors, acoustic bearing detectors and cameras on or near railroads.