Let’s make the rails safer.

Norfolk Southern has done two massive train wrecks inside of a week.  There is the East Palestine wreck and now a second wreck not far away from the East Palestine wreck.  Most of the time derailments leading to train wrecks are caused be faulty track.  Around here main line track at White River Junction is so old that I can pick spikes out of the ties with my fingers.  They run AMTRAK passenger trains over that bit of totally worn out track.  I’ll give the railroad this; they limit the speed of the passenger train to 30 mph over this bit of dead track.

   What we need is a public written document describing what properly maintained track is and how to inspect it.  Best issued by a private railroad association, not a government bureau.

   After a train wreck the railroad’s insurance company should inspect the track.  If the track fails to meet documented quality, the insurance company should refuse to pay off to the railroad.  For backup, if trackside land owners, local governments or businesses feel the railroad is running unsafely they can inspect the track themselves and sue the railroad if they find it running on dangerous track.

    The East Palestine train wreck is hard to explain.  The hotbox caused the truck to burst into flames 6 to 8 feet high.  There is a bit of video tape that shows this.  Why the train crew failed to stop the train after seeing the flames is strange, and no newsie has been intelligent enough to ask Norfolk Southern about it.  Hotboxes have been a hazard to railroading since its beginning two hundred years ago.   With 200 years of experience to guide them train crews ought to know to stop the train and cut the hotbox car out onto a siding and leave it there.