Brown Leading Bipartisan Rail Safety Legislation in the Wake of Norfolk Southern Derailments in Ohio Communities, Including Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, OH – March 24, 2023 – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) joined local business owners, rail union workers, and local officials to call for swift passage of his bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023, in the wake of a recent Norfolk Southern derailment in Springfield. On March 4, 28 cars of a 212-car Norfolk Southern train derailed, just weeks after the devastating Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.
“A disaster similar to what happened in East Palestine could have happened right here in Springfield a few weeks ago, when another Norfolk Southern train derailed,” said Brown. “Railroad company lobbyists spent years fighting every effort to make our railroads safer, cutting more than 30 percent of their workers in less than 10 years. Now Ohioans are paying the price. It shouldn’t take a train derailment for elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the people we serve – not corporations like Norfolk Southern.”
Brown led a bipartisan group of colleagues, including Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), to introduce his Railway Safety Act of 2023 that will improve rail safety protocols, finally standing up to railroad company lobbyists so no other community has to deal with what East Palestine and others in Ohio, including residents of Springfield, Sandusky, and Steubenville, have dealt with.
“I feel the Brown bipartisanship bill is the strongest piece of rail safety regulation in almost two decades. This bill would help remedy the railroads current unsafe operating mode of PSR, PSR is the plague in which endangers both employees and the public as we have seen recently,” said Clyde Whitaker, State Legislative Director of the Transportation Division of the Ohio State Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD).
Ohio news outlets have praised Brown’s bipartisan plan as “wise,” “commonsense” reforms that “could help keep people across the country safer.” The legislation comes after Brown worked with Vance and others to raise concerns to the NTSB about lax rail safety rules that allowed the crash to happen.
Last week, Brown, along with Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced the Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act to support first responders on the front lines of hazardous train derailments. In East Palestine, Ohio and Darlington, Pennsylvania, local emergency responders, firefighters, and law enforcement risked their own wellbeing to protect their communities in the aftermath of Norfolk Southern’s disaster. This new legislation would create a new fund—paid for by companies that ship and carry these materials—to provide emergency responders, firefighters, and law enforcement with the financial resources needed to replace equipment, pay workers overtime, and address other urgent costs as well as compel railroads to notify local officials and emergency response groups when hazardous materials are moving through their communities.