Railroads

A Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. (U.S. EPA photo)

Priorities for rail safety bill debated in U.S. Senate hearing with Norfolk Southern CEO

BY: - March 22, 2023

Members of a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday previewed what they would push for in bipartisan rail safety legislation likely to progress through Congress in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment. Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hinted they wanted to strengthen requirements about reporting hazardous cargo, […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responds to reporters' questions about a White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, Jan. 24, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. Senate leader calls for safety audit into all major railroads after Ohio derailment

BY: - March 15, 2023

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Wednesday for the federal authority responsible for determining the causes of transportation casualties to investigate the safety culture at all major North American freight railroads. Following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said […]

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky

BY: - November 30, 2022

The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]

The Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

U.S. House to intervene in rail workers strike, heeding Biden call

BY: - November 29, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday said the House will take up legislation to ratify an agreement between rail workers and operators in order to avert a nationwide rail strike. “This week, the House will take up a bill adopting the Tentative Agreement — with no poison pills or changes to the […]