TCU Joins Members of Congress and Labor Leaders to Call for Rail Safety Reform on Three-Year Anniversary of East Palestine

Washington, DC – On the three-year anniversary of the East Palestine train disaster, Transportation Communications Union/IAM National Legislative Director Dave Arouca and National Legislative Representative Connor Vargo joined labor leaders, Members of Congress, and local elected officials to call on Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act and bring much needed safety reforms to the rail industry. IAM District 19 President Reece Murtaugh, IAM Special Assistant to the International President Josh Hartford, and IAM Assistant Legislative and Political Director Ty Richardson also attended in solidarity.

From left to right: Reece Murtaugh, Connor Vargo, Dave Arouca, Josh Hartford and Ty Richardson.

Speakers included:

- Congressman Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Member, Rail Subcommittee Member and Sponsor of the Railway Safety Act
- Congressman Mike Rulli (R-OH-6), Co-lead of the Railway Safety Act
- Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-3), Co-lead of the Railway Safety Act
- Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV-01), House Transportation & Infrastructure Rail Subcommittee Ranking Member
- Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO (TTD)
- Mike Baldwin, President of the Brotherhood for Railroad Signalmen (BRS)
- Michael A. Lombardo, Mayor of Pittston, Pennsylvania
- Matt Pacifico, Mayor of Altoona, Pennsylvania

The bipartisan Railway Safety Act was first introduced in the 118^th Congress by then-Senator J.D. Vance and Senator Sherrod Brown. The bill would make significant reforms to rail safety, such as prohibiting inspection time limits for visual inspections of rail cars and locomotives, requiring expanded use of defect detectors, increasing fines for railroads committing safety violations, enhancing safety requirements for the transportation of hazardous materials, and more.

“These are common-sense measures. There’s bipartisan support for this bill for good reason. It’s something that earned the support of then-candidate Donald Trump and then-President Joe Biden [and] J.D. Vance led with us in the Senate. We [ought to] get this thing passed,” said Deluzio.

“One of the biggest problems we have is the inspection of cars. Inspection of cars is supposed to happen every 5-6 months – that is not happening,” said Rep. Rulli. “Every car is supposed to have 8-10 minutes to inspect, they’re lucky if they are spending 2 minutes.”

“Strong rail safety regulations mean reasonable train lengths and adequate staffing,” said Michael Baldwin, President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. He continued, “They mean Carmen inspections that are not timed to a point where the inspection is rendered useless.”

Send a letter to your Representatives demanding they support the Railway Safety Act now.

As background, on February 3^rd, 2023 a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio due to a failed wheel bearing. Unknown to first responders at the time, the train was carrying hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride which is known to significantly increase the risks of liver, brain and lung cancers along with leukemia and lymphoma. Regardless, Norfolk Southern encouraged officials to do a “vent and burn” arguing the instability of the hazardous materials in several of the derailed cars. They argued a controlled vent and burn would be safer than a potential catastrophic incident.

Photograph: Gene J. Puskar/AP

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that a vent and burn was not necessary, and the evidence provided by Norfolk Southern was incomplete and misleading. As a result of the vent and burn and derailment, East Palestine and the surrounding communities in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania were contaminated with these chemicals, forcing evacuations and poisoning water supplies, ultimately disrupting the lives of thousands of individuals in the region.

Railroaders have been sounding the alarm on the unsafe industry practices that led to East Palestine and so many other, less covered derailments since the implementation of Precision Schedule Railroading (PSR). In the wake of the disaster, bipartisan Senators, Members of Congress and even then-President Biden and candidate Trump supported the Railway Safety Act.