I was a huge fan of trains growing up. My grandparents lived right to the vast Pennsylvania Railroad Depot- and I could sit by the windows for hours watching the workers move, coalesce, breakdown, and reroute trains.  (Of course, my Victrola was also playing music to entertain my auditory senses at the same time.)

When I was much older, after we abandoned our Ann Arbor offices for  Atlanta and Charlottesville, I chose the situs for our Virginia location to be contiguous to the oldest (and only still operating) roundhouse on the East Coast. As we expanded, most of our offices were set near the railroad tracks.  Moreover, most of my travel to and from our Atlanta Office was via the Southern Crescent (a train I still miss dearly).

When I taught at a DC university (and still lived in Charlottesville), I took the Crescent up in the morning and alternated between the Piedmont (an earlier return train) and the Crescent for the route home.  About the time I resigned as a professor, the Southern Railroad finally relinquished their passenger service (the last bastion to join the National passenger line) to Amtrak.  And, what Amtrak did to the Crescent was a disgrace.  (No more silverware in the dining room, no more tablecloths adorning the table, the food choices were basically eliminated, etc.)

With time, the Southern and Norfolk & Western railroads merged their lines.  18000 miles of tracks across 19 states, the merged entity became the most profitable rail line (but only the third biggest). Today, it ranks as the fifth biggest (with not much more miles of track lines [21000].)

But, to say I like the Norfolk Southern would be a vast overstatement.  For years, they traipsed though my town- contiguous to residences and business, with pure ethanol, even sorting rail cars of in town.  Without once notifying the authorities of the practice.    Which is a problem, since ethanol needs special fire fighting equipment- none of which were part of our resources.

All of this is simply the prelude to the discussion of the manifold Norfolk rail disasters, with one of the newest devastating East Palestine, Ohio (as suburb of Pittsburgh, PA).  Where 38 cars derailed and 12 more carrying volatile organic compounds burst into flame. (These were part of the 151 car train, totally covering some  9300 feet long and with 18000 tons of traffic).

Moreover, this should surprise absolutely no one.  After all,  NorfolkSouthern has increased the sizes of trains it transports by 20%, cut its staff utilization by 40%, and fought against every new safety measure proposed over the past decade.

But, then, there’s the cause of that derailment?.  It was all because of one little wheel bearing that overheated. (You do know that it was also one little bearing that caused many of the DC Metro cars to derail, too.)

Maybe you should know that the Norfolk Southern rail workers also aver there was another breakdown on that same train a week or two earlier.  (There has been yet another such derailment in Michigan.)

The Palestine derailment was complicated by the hazardous chemicals being carried in tank cars- each one filled with about 30,000 gallons of chemicals.  Compounds like vinyl chloride (human carcinogen, used to produce vinyl chloride), ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (fatal if inhaled, ingested or from skin contact), ethylhexyl acrylate (unknown toxicity), isobutylene (associated with birth defects), and butyl acrylate (potentially carcinogenic, toxic if inhaled, ingested or skin contact).

The real problem is that we have been letting railroads create longer and longer trains with fewer and fewer rail attendants.  Many of these 150 car trains only have one person on board to ensure safe travel. The railroads call this “precision-scheduled railroading” (PSR).  In English, it means staff reductions of some 30% over the past decade, while train length has escalated to 150 cars. (This was part of the controversy that was behind the potential rail strike that was averted late last year. )

On top of that, as mentioned above, Norfolk Southern experienced another derailment in Southeast Michigan – where 30 cars derailed and caused road closures about 30 miles west of Detroit. At least for this time, no hazardous materials found their way into the waterways or soil.

Back in 2014, when Norfolk Western had a major derailment event (leaving some $13.5 million in damages), new safety rules were proposed by the Obama administration.  Which were promptly quashed by the Trump Administration.  Maybe you should also consider that the biggest fine that can be imposed for such an derailment accident is all of $ 225455.

But, it’s not just Norfolk Southern railroad that is the problem.  The 7 biggest railroads have decimated their work forces (cutting them by 1/3), shut down rail yards (that’s where the trains get inspected and repaired), while multiplying profits.

Perhaps it’s time to require trains that carry such hazardous goods also transport emergency response equipment. After all, their routes take them places where local authorities have no such equipment or expertise.  And an additional crew member, whose responsibility I to monitor the instrumentation on track and rail car integrity, reporting same to the engineer as necessary.

(By the way, the de minimus actions of NorfolkSouthern has led the EPA to take over the cleanup of the mess- with the tab completely due to be paid by the railroad.  It’s about time!)