Scripps News has been following events at East Palestine with multiple reports ever since the catastrophic train wreck a year ago on February 3, 2023. (The list of reports at the link really cover the story in depth.) They have a followup report here with what things are like a year after the disaster. Here’s the promo for the report:
Feb. 3, 2023 lives in the hearts and minds of the people of East Palestine. A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, causing a massive fire.
Days after the derailment, officials decided to vent and burn vinyl chloride from the wreck to avoid a potentially catastrophic explosion. The National Guard blocked roads to the area and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged residents to leave.
The mandatory evacuation was lifted after only three days. The governor's office said air quality samples showed safe readings, and Norfolk Southern started running trains again.
But residents were scared to breathe the air and drink the water. Families demanded independent testing on wells and relied on bottled water. Businesses struggled to stay afloat.
Scripps News visits East Palestine a year after the derailment to see what life is like now, and to share the lesson the community can teach all of America.
The show revisits the terrifying scene when multiple cars carrying dangerous chemicals derailed, and looks how it has affected the people of the town, the railroad, and the government response to the disaster. People are still suffering from trauma; some may never return to the town. Questions remain — including how much trust people now have in the answers they are being given about safety, what was done, what will be done.
There have been some changes. Supposedly, it’s now going to be a lot easier for first responders to deal with another derailment, get answers from the railroad, communicate with other responders, and have better access to training.
Norfolk Southern has spent millions cleaning up, hauling away contaminated soil, carrying out tests on air and water. They are confident things are safe, but not everyone is convinced. They also installed some big new detection equipment that scans passing trains in detail looking for problems.
There were Congressional hearings, even a bill that would have imposed new safety regulations and other measures. The bill has gone nowhere since then and may stand little chance of getting attention in an election year.
People are still buying bottled water, despite assurances about their wells.
The show barely touched on the railroad management model that set up the disaster, Precision Scheduled Railroading and its focus on the operating ratio to the exclusion of all else. (Details here.) The closest the report got to talking about it was a brief indirect mention that never talked about PSR by name, just some of the things it brought about like longer, more dangerous trains.
The previous executives of the railroad had gotten bonus payments for boosting Norfolk Southern’s profits via PSR (details here), but current CEO Alan Shaw has since shifted focus after the disaster (details here) to things like how good is on-time delivery, reportable accident rates, and reportable injury rates instead of how the operating ratio is measuring up. (This is at about 14 minutes into the report.)
Recent news is that Shaw, is the target of a group of “activist investors” who are unhappy the railroad isn’t meeting revenue targets. It’s possible to get an idea of how intent they are about this because they are willing to put up a billion dollars to get their objections taken seriously.
Trains Magazine had this to say in 2022 about the effects of Wall Street demands on how railroads are being run.
...The culprit is a persistent failure to keep a sufficient cushion of crews on hand to ensure that a railroad can recover quickly from unexpected surges in traffic or extreme events like hurricanes, cold snaps, and wildfires. [AND avoid completely preventable disasters — xaxnar] And the reason railroads don’t keep that capacity buffer? The Cult of the Operating Ratio, as analyst Anthony B. Hatch calls Wall Street’s hyperfocus on the key efficiency metric.
This short-term focus means railroads aim to keep costs at a bare minimum and reduce them every year — even if it jeopardizes service over the long term. Paterson notes that since gaining pricing power in 2004, railroads (except BNSF) have used a simple and wildly successful financial formula: Raise rates faster than costs and never mind volume growth. This pushed Class I operating ratios from the 80s to the 50s and ushered in a Golden Era for railroad investors.
The party is over. Investors still push for lower operating ratios, but there’s not much juice left to squeeze. If your operating ratio is 80, a 1-point improvement will boost your bottom line by 7%. Now with an operating ratio in the 50s, a 1-point improvement nets just a 3% rise in income, Paterson says.
emphasis added
This was written before East Palestine and doesn’t discuss the other consequences of relentless cost-cutting: reduced safety, the impact on employees, and the inability of railroads to invest in growth even though it would be in the public interest for many reasons. Wall Street’s focus on short term gains is all about extracting value, not creating it or sustaining it. Safety is just one of the things that gets sacrificed. It’s the same obsession that has led Boeing to lose its way.
President Biden is supposed to be visiting East Palestine sometime soon. He’s been getting a lot of attacks from right wing media and politicians for not visiting sooner. Reportedly arrangements are still being worked out. Here is the January 31, 2023 White House fact sheet about East Palestine. Here’s the opening paragraph:
One year ago, on February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, jeopardizing the community’s safety and sense of normalcy. Since the derailment, the Biden-Harris Administration has mobilized a comprehensive, whole-of-government response to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio, affected communities in Pennsylvania, and other impacted communities. In February, President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio, to meet with residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment, discuss Federal support to the community, and hold Norfolk Southern accountable.
There’s a long list of actions taken to respond to the disaster and promises to continue to address the issues of East Palestine as well as the rail industry. When President Biden does go to East Palestine, it will be of interest to see how the visit is covered by the press and what President Biden will call for moving forward.
There is no question the rail industry in America needs serious attention. Even if you don’t have dangerous freight trains running past your house, or have no passenger rail service nearby, it’s still vital that all of us make sure the government is not leaving railroad operations to be set by a poorly self-regulating industry, the profit obsessions of Wall Street, and blind faith in market forces. It’s too big a chunk of the economy and a massive opportunity to get carbon out of transportation that’s getting ignored. We have to do better.
Watch the Scripps News report:
Want to make a difference? Check out Solutionary Rail. Take a look at the Climate Rail Alliance. Join the Rail Passengers Association. Write your Congressional delegation and demand action on the Railway Safety Act. Thank President Biden for his efforts to expand Amtrak and ask him to do more with rail as a national climate priority.