At U.S. House hearing, new calls for changes on railway tracks
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Nearly a year and a half after the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, rail safety is still top-of-mind for many U.S. lawmakers.
The need for changes on the tracks was a topic at a major hearing in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
The Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine on Feb. 3, 2023, upended thousands of lives and forced many to abandon their homes.
Federal transportation officials testified in a U.S. House subcommittee hearing on rail safety on Tuesday afternoon.
"What I'm about to tell you may seem shocking, but it's the truth. The railroads do not want to know how defective their trains are. Please know that we do not make this conclusion lightly," said David Arouca, national legislative director of the Transportation Communications Union.
Arouca said inspections are often rushed and touched on job cuts. He cited a recent Federal Railroad Administration study.
"The findings would be eye-opening to non-railroaders. When FRA is present, carmen are given on average 1 minute and 38 seconds per car to inspect. Still too short. But when the FRA isn't there, that time drops even further to 44 seconds per car or 22 seconds per side," he said.
The National Transporation Safety Board's final report last month said an overheating wheel bearing was to blame and sensors failed to send a critical alarm to the crew. The report did not say whether an inspection might have caught the failed bearing.
The NTSB's director, Jennifer Homendy, and the head of the FRA, Amit Bose, were some other officials who testified.
"FRA also determined that ns's procedures and inadequate staffing for communicating information from the hot bearing detectors to the train crew may have contributed to the accident," Bose said.
TCU is one of many labor unions endorsing the bipartisan Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024. That bill builds on local Rep. Chris Deluzio's Railway Safety Act and would add several provisions, including improving close call and emergency communications.
"There are provisions in here that will keep folks safer and will make rail safer and will give us the ability to not just protect communities but move things more safely on the rails," Deluzio said. "I commissioned a congressional research report of my district. Ninety-five percent of my constituents live within 5 miles of the tracks. Nearly half live within a mile. This could happen elsewhere in my district, it could happen in plenty of other parts of the country as well."
"It seems that both sides of the aisle can agree rail safety should never be a partisan issue. Every American agrees that trains need to stay on the tracks," Arouca said.