COLUMBUS, Ohio — Railroads like the one involved in last month's fiery crash and toxic chemical release in Ohio would be subject to a series of new federal safety regulations and financial consequences under legislation being introduced Wednesday by the state's two U.S. senators.
The Senate bill aims to address several key regulatory questions that have arisen from the disaster, including why the state of Ohio was not made aware the hazardous load was coming through and why the crew didn't learn sooner of an impending equipment malfunction. That provision could mean changes across the industry. Hazardous materials shipments account for 7% to 8% of the roughly 30 million shipments railroads deliver across the U.S. each year. But almost any train – aside from a grain or coal train that carries a single commodity -- might carry one or two cars of hazardous materials, because railroads often mix all kinds of shipments together on a train.
The bill would address that issue by setting train crews at a two-person minimum. The provision isn’t specifically in response to East Palestine — where the train had three crew members — but to an industry trend toward one-person crews. The Federal Railroad Administration was already considering a rule that would require two-person crews, in most instances. That rule was proposed last summer, but the agency is still reviewing thousands of comments it received on it.
Under the plan, the U.S. Department of Transportation would be required to revisit rules on train size and weight, and to work to prevent railroad delays from causing trains carrying hazardous loads to block rail crossings. That’s as train lengths have grown to 2 miles or more, as railroads streamline operations to reduce their numbers of crews, mechanics and locomotives.
In addition, the bill requires long-haul railroads to pay for hazardous-materials training for local first responders, including police and EMTs, through an increase in their hazmat registration fees.
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