From staff and wire reports
COLUMBUS — In response to the fiery East Palestine train derailment, the safety of the nation’s railroads was very much on the minds of legislators at the Statehouse and on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
Proposed safety measures are part of a $12.6 billion, two-year state transportation budget passed Wednesday by the Ohio House with bipartisan support.
“These infrastructure and rail-safety workforce investments ensure every working family has the opportunities needed to prosper no matter their zip code,” Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.
Weeks after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in a fiery crash in the small eastern Ohio village, lawmakers included a provision to require that those who receive messages on defects picked up by a railroad’s wayside detector system must immediately notify a train operator.
The system detects mechanical issues such as overheated wheel bearings like the one noted in the East Palestine accident. The derailment led to a toxic chemical release, the evacuation of part of the town, a multi-government emergency response and ongoing concerns about contaminated drinking water and long-term health effects.
Other railway-related provisions in the budget include mandating a two-person crew for freight trains and requiring the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to submit written reports to the Legislature regarding the transportation of hazardous materials and waste.
“In this bill when a wayside defect detector on a train track identifies a fault in a passing train, that information must be shared with the operators on the train so they will be able to take corrective actions. This is the first time in 30 years that we have been able to get this safety measure and a mandatory two-person crew into law,” Rep. Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville) said.
Senate’s rail safety panel begins hearings
The Ohio Senate’s Select Committee on Rail Safety held its first meeting Wednesday and began with a live update from Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director Anne Vogel from the Command Center in East Palestine.
She updated the Select Committee on efforts ranging from soil cleanup around the train tracks, to water and soil sampling in the community, to secure hauling and disposal of the contaminates.
Vogel is coordinating the federal state response to the derailment.
The committee’s objective is to gain a clearer understanding of the cause of the catastrophic train derailment, the status of recovery efforts, and to determine the most appropriate course of action to help local residents, Senate president Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
Ohio senators lead rail safety push in Congress
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has proposed legislation that would make railroads, like the one involved in the crash and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, subject to a series of new federal safety regulations and financial consequences.
Regulators also announced a plan Wednesday to step up inspections of the tracks that carry the most hazardous materials. Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican JD Vance are key co-sponsors of the bill, introduced Wednesday.
It responds to regulatory concerns raised by the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine.
The legislation would subject all trains carrying hazardous materials to additional safety regulations and state notification requirements. It would increase penalties for violations.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Norfolk Southern railroad will testify in Congress next week about last month’s fiery Ohio derailment and the precautions the railroad takes to prevent similar crashes.
The railroad said Wednesday that Alan Shaw will appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works next Thursday.
DeWine: Railroads agree to help train Ohio responders
Governor Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that he had spoken with the CEOs of both Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads, the operators with the most track miles in Ohio, about the need for increased train derailment response training for first responders, especially those in small communities. There is currently very little training for volunteers on responding to trail derailments, DeWine said.
“The reality is, in most of the rural part of the state of Ohio, it is our volunteer firemen and women who are the most likely to be the first ones on the scene,” he said.
DeWine reported that the CEOs of both railroads were in favor of working with the State of Ohio to increase railroad-specific training for Ohio’s first responders.
He also announced that the Ohio Public Utilities Commission currently has up to $800,000 in grant funding available to help Ohio’s smaller fire departments pay for critically important training.