Power of the rail industry looms over stalled train safety bill that could prevent another East Palestine-level disaster

We hear a lot of noise coming out of our nation’s capital these days. There are persistent rumors about a guy named Epstein, arguments concerning the name of the Washington, D.C., NFL team, lawmakers yelling at each other over charges of treason. That was just Tuesday’s chaos. Meantime, problems affecting our communities pile up and remain unsolved.

Here’s an example: Elected leaders have done little to address the issues revealed by the disastrous East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, now 2½ years in the past. A few weeks ago, Vice President JD Vance and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced they were creating a $10 million fund to “assess and address the long-term health outcomes” caused by the derailment.

But what about initiatives and legislation that could have a real impact in the near term? A few days ago we got a phone call from U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, whose Pennsylvania district includes Beaver County communities still reeling from the chemical bomb set off after dozens of Norfolk Southern rail cars derailed and caught fire in East Palestine on Feb. 3, 2023.

Deluzio had just wrapped up a meeting with union railroad employees in Columbiana, Ohio. The Democratic congressman was joined in that gathering by his colleague U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, a Republican from Ohio whose district includes East Palestine. The two lawmakers heard from workers concerned about the railroad industry’s efforts to further weaken the inspection process, and provided an update on a bill designed to improve rail safety and address some of those issues brought to light by the derailment.

That bill, called the Railway Safety Act of 2025, is one of the few pieces of legislation that enjoys bipartisan support in Congress. Its backers say the bill would force changes that could prevent other communities from suffering the fate of East Palestine, yet the bill remains stuck in the the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican.

So what’s the problem? House leadership, it turns out. Neither Graves nor House Speaker Mike Johnson will push the bill forward.

“We’ve got to get leadership to stop being an obstacle,” Deluzio said. “We have the votes to pass it.”

This is especially frustrating because so many powerful elected leaders have voiced support for the bill — that list includes Vance and President Donald Trump. Yet no one with the juice to nudge the bill forward has pushed for passage.

“I’m not naive,” Deluzio said. “The railroad [industry] is pretty powerful in Washington, and plenty of politicians are carrying their water.”

Deluzio pressed U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on the act during a committee hearing last week. After noting the support for the bill voiced by Vance and Trump, Deluzio said to Duffy, “I assume you also want to see this Congress pass the Railway Safety Act and give it to the president to sign.”

“Of course,” Duffy responded.

“I would urge you to use every tool you have in the transportation department to encourage my colleagues to pass the bill and get it to the president’s desk. It’s got support for both sides of the aisle. We should pass it. I hope you work with us to do that.”

“It’s good to see a bipartisan, bicameral effort, so well done,” Duffy said.

We’ll have to wait and see if Duffy’s comments translate into real action. Nothing will happen in the immediate future. On Tuesday, Speaker Johnson announced he was sending House members home early for a monthlong break, a move that’s certainly an effort to cool the chaos caused by Republican members clamoring for Congress to act on an investigation into this Epstein character.

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Union rail workers at the Columbiana meeting raised a concerning issue — a request by the Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group, to reduce required visual train inspections from twice a week to twice a month, and give railroad companies up to three days to repair defects. The current rule requires track inspectors to immediately begin fixing known defects.

“We already have enough derailments,” said Joseph Roberts, a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division and an employee of Norfolk Southern. “If [the railroads] get this through, East Palestine is coming to a community near you.”

Roberts’ warning was included in a statement released by the unions representing rail workers. Roberts is one of several union workers who labored at the East Palestine derailment site; now he’s suffering from health problems caused by chemical exposure.

The railroad organization says the waiver will improve rail safety by “blending” technologies such as automated track inspections with visual inspections. Critics say the railroad companies are simply trying to cut costs and jack up the bottom line.