Senators unveil rail safety bill after Ohio train derailment

A bipartisan radical of senators volition present authorities Wednesday aimed astatine preventing obstruction disasters aft the devastating derailment successful East Palestine past month.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 would make much stringent information requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials and summation the frequence of obstruction car inspections. It would besides necessitate trained, two-person crews to enactment aboard each bid carrying hazardous materials and levy heightened fines for obstruction carriers' wrongdoing.

The Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern bid carrying vinyl chloride led to a spill of toxic chemicals. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers person called connected Biden medication officials to prioritize addressing the crisis, portion immoderate Democrats person faulted erstwhile President Donald Trump with undoing obstruction information rules during his tenure. Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has visited the derailment tract respective times arsenic adjacent residents proceed to endure from ecological damage.

"It shouldn't instrumentality a monolithic railroad catastrophe for elected officials to enactment partisanship speech and enactment unneurotic for the radical we service — not corporations similar Norfolk Southern," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said successful a statement.

The measure volition beryllium introduced by Brown and his Republican counterpart, Sen. JD Vance, who correspond the authorities wherever the Norfolk Southern derailment occurred. Bob Casey, D-Pa., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are besides sponsoring the legislation. The toxic plume caused by the derailment has besides affected neighboring Pennsylvania.

"Through this legislation, Congress has a existent accidental to guarantee that what happened successful East Palestine volition ne'er hap again," Vance said successful a statement. "We beryllium each American the bid of caput that their assemblage is protected from a catastrophe of this kind."

Congressional committees have jockeyed to clasp hearings and instrumentality enactment pursuing the derailment. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee connected Tuesday asked Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to participate successful an upcoming hearing. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Chris Deluzio, D.-Pa., connected Tuesday introduced authorities successful the House to tighten regulations connected trains carrying hazardous materials.