Transportation
Fast Trains, Toxic Chemicals: Why Rail Safety Is Still a Problem
- Norfolk Southern’s $1.1 billion payout worried industry
- Companies more focused on safety, but few widespread upgrades
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In the year since the derailment of a Norfolk Southern Inc. train brought national attention to US railroad safety, little has changed.
Trains are still rolling through East Palestine, Ohio, at 50 miles per hour — the same speed allowed last February when an accident spilled toxic chemicals in the rural town. Bipartisan safety legislation proposed a month after the crash is bogged down in the Senate. And derailments are happening at roughly the same pace.