In the last couple of weeks, I've read about three train derailments and wondered why there's suddenly a spate of them. It turns out that the Federal Government DID have rules to help prevent these, but the previous President repealed them. Today's blog is a FACT CHECK about the train industry and safety regulations that were put in place by the Obama Administration and were indeed repealed under the Trump Administration.
NOTE: The Obama requirement wouldn't have affected the 1st Ohio incident last month, because the cargo wasn't classified as "hazardous" - THAT is a different issue that needs addressing. But, it would have helped prevent the other 2 incidents that happened in the last month.
WRAL-TV did a Fact Check and confirmed this is TRUE. Here's the story
Fact check: Did Trump rail rule repeal make transportation less safe?
WRAL-TV (Click for story) Feb 24, 2023
In 2015, during the Obama administration, a new safety rule was adopted requiring electronically controlled pneumatic brakes to be installed on all high-hazard flammable unit trains by 2023, allowing them to brake faster. Trump rescinded that requirement three years later.
The rise and fall of an Obama-era train safety rule
In 2014, following several high-profile train derailments, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration (which both operate under the Department of Transportation) proposed rules to bolster safety standards for trains carrying hazardous materials.
A year later, these two agencies finalized the rule for trains carrying high-hazard, flammable materials. New trains were required to have the electronic brakes and older trains were required to be retrofitted with them by 2023.
A high-hazard flammable unit train was defined as a train going faster than 30 miles per hour with at least 70 loaded tank cars containing certain highly flammable liquids, such as crude oil and ethanol.
Bottom Line #1: This Really is Needed: Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes
Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes work on all train cars simultaneously. This allows the train to brake faster than when equipped with conventional air brakes, which are applied sequentially along the length of the train.
After this rule was enacted, lobbyists for railway and oil companies pushed to repeal it, questioning the effectiveness of electronic brakes and arguing that the cost of installing them was too high.
Then in 2018, under the Trump administration, the Department of Transportation repealed the rule based on government reports that determined equipping high-hazard cargo trains with electronic brakes was not economically justified. However, the Associated Press reported that these government reports omitted up to $117 million in estimated future damages from train derailments that could be avoided by using electronic brakes.
Bottom Line #2: The Definition of Hazardous Chemicals Needs to be Changed for Trains
However, even if this safety rule had still been in effect, it would not have applied to the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, because it was not categorized as a high-hazard cargo train.
Although the Norfolk Southern train contained hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, it did not meet the Department of Transportation’s narrow definition of a high-hazard flammable unit train in that it didn’t have at least 70 cars containing flammable materials, such as crude oil or ethanol. The chemicals it was carrying fall into a different classification not included in this definition.
The National Transportation Safety Board told PolitiFact that the Norfolk Southern train was categorized as a "general merchandise train" and it used "pneumatic brakes," or conventional air brakes.
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