How America Can Stop Dangerous Train Derailments and Railroad Companies’ Greed

An unlikely coalition of Republicans and Democrats are taking on railroad companies’ greed.

Recently, following a disastrous crash in East Palestine, OH, there has been increased attention on railroad safety — or lack thereof. Workers have been sounding the alarm to warn that major rail companies have been running barebones crews and neglecting safety in order to rake in record profits.

Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are leading an effort to protect communities like East Palestine. They introduced a bill, the Railway Safety Act, that would ban 1-person crews, mandate new safety technology, and increase fines that railroads could pay for safety violations by 10,000%.

They face an uphill battle to get their bill passed. Railroad companies spent $25 million last year to buy off Congress and protect their bottom line. Over the past four years, they spent $100 million on lobbying. Now the industry’s corrupt investments will be put to the test.