Two more trains derail, just two weeks after Ohio chemical spill

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. NTSBGov/Handout

US rail seems to be in an extremely bad place. A colleague this morning sent a message: “There’s been a CSX derailment”. A quick look on the internet, however, and there have been an awful lot recently. CSX’s accident in South Carolina yesterday afternoon? Or perhaps the crash between an 18-wheel truck and a Union Pacific train, also yesterday near Houston, which saw the truck driver die and 21 rail cars, some of which were carrying hazardous material, leave the tracks. Or perhaps we should note the incident two weeks ago, when a 150-car Norfolk Southern train derailed and caught fire, leading to an evacuation of the area as 20 railcars were carrying the chemical vinyl chloride. Some 3,500 small fish, across 7½ miles of streams, are estimated to have died, as well as chickens. This litany of accidents must lead to some changes… surely.