Yves here. Maybe I don’t have the right media diet, but the toxic explosion in eastern Palestine seems to have slipped away from media coverage very quickly. And before you say it’s because the victims were poor white people, remember that the lead-drinking residents of Flint were overwhelmingly poor people of color… only to end up being insulted by the clearly not poor President Obama. Admittedly, we have a second disadvantaged group here, the railway workers, who are also ignored.
This omission seems strategic, since as Lambert explained long form, Precision Scheduled Railroading played a vital role in the derailment. Railroad workers had just seen the Biden administration (with the help of Congress) call off the strike over working conditions created by the regular railroad. So conveniently, insofar as the press covers why the crash happened, it blames the brakes, allowing the guns of blame to aim for a Trump-era regulatory rollback… when brake theory fans admit that these regulations in place would have at best reduced the severity of the accident.
Unfortunately, while this post contains some helpful updates in its opening section, it also repeats the duck that allows Trump bashing, as opposed to a deeper look at the history of railroad deregulation, according to which electronically controlled air brake systems were major. guilty of the accident. Again, please read Lambert’s teardown to see why it’s not that simple.
Perhaps you can help by sending Lambert’s message to Common Dreams author Brett Wilkins and encouraging him to understand why the train has derailed and how it has implications for reform efforts.
By Brett Wilkins. Originally posted on Common dreams
Amid heightened national attention to rail safety following the Eastern Palestine, Ohio Disaster And other recent accidentsa rail workers’ union warned on Friday that, while welcome, a bipartisan rail safety bill has “loopholes big enough to get a 7,000-foot train through.”
THE Railway Safety Act 2023—featured earlier this week by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Fetterman(D-Pa.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—is intended for “to prevent future rail disasters like the derailment that devastated eastern Palestine.”
The legislation would impose limits on the length of freight trains, which in some cases currently exceed three miles. The measure was introduced a day after US Democratic representatives. Ro Khanna(D-California) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) submit an invoicethis would force the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to impose stricter regulations on trains carrying hazardous materials.
“We welcome greater federal oversight and a crackdown on railroads that seem too willing to trade safety for higher profits,” said Eddie Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET). statement.
With loopholes large enough to fit a 7,000 foot train through, this legislation essentially codifies a path to one-person crews on many if not the majority of trains. https://t.co/9K4bFUNTMe
— Railroad Workers United ✊ (@railroadworkers) March 3, 2023
Although BLET appreciates that Brown’s bill includes language stating that “no freight train may be operated without a two-person crew consisting of at least one suitably qualified and certified conductor and one locomotive engineer duly qualified and certified locomotive”, the union warned against “meaningful”. exceptions in the proposal. For example, the bill as currently drafted would only apply to operations on long-distance freight trains.
BLET said it will “seek to modify the wording of the two-person crew language to fill in the gaps.”
“If the language is not precise, Class 1 railroads will avoid the scope of the law without breaking the law, again endangering the safety of our members and American communities,” explained Lobby. “You can run a freight train through the loopholes.”
In 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration finalized a rule requiring the installation of electronically controlled pneumatic braking systems (ECP) on trains transporting dangerous goods.
Corporate lobbyists then pressed the Obama administration to water down the rule, which was repealed entirely during the Trump administration’s regulatory dismantling frenzy.
In 2021, in response to a petition from the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the FRA proposed changes to existing safety standards that would reduce the frequency of brake testing.
AAR Petition:https://t.co/o4qyeK4ALd
ENG Amendments:https://t.co/kr4hG6qdZs
— Salem Snow (@Salem4Congress) March 3, 2023
Current U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigiegdid not do make the ECP rule a priority. Instead, DOT regulators are considering a proposal backed by the Association of American Railroads, an industry lobby group, that would reduce brake testing. Five major railway unions including BLET strongly oppose Proposal.
