Off the Rails

It was on February 3 when a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and exploded in East Palestine, Ohio, near the state border with Pennsylvania on the eastern end of town, leading the town to declare a state of emergency.  In an effort to control and limit the resulting environmental fiasco that ensued, Ohio governor Mike DeWine demanded the evacuation of East Palestine to allow for "a controlled release" of vinyl chloride aso it could be burned in a nearby trench.

Now, vinyl chloride is perfectly safe in its finished form, known as polyvinyl chloride, as it is used to make wire coatings and packaging materials.  But in its raw, unrefined form . . . eh, not so much.

And when it burns and spews smoke into the air . . . well, it can be even deadlier than COVID.

And what burns on the ground stays on the ground . . .and contaminates soil, groundwater, streams, and anything else once it starts running off like Marjorie Taylor Greene's mouth.

Republicans are blaming the Biden administration for this disaster, with many of them faulting the President for pushing a big, expensive infrastructure bill that is obviously ineffective - except that the money hasn't been doled out yet, and besides, Norfolk Southern owns the track as well as the freight cars and locomotives.  And one one other thing - the derailment was caused by a brake defect in one of the cars.

Florida GOP congressman Byron Donalds even demanded that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg resign for letting this happen, suggesting that he is incompetent and the only got the job because he is gay.  If Buttigieg let it happen, it was only because he was unable to do anything to prevent it.  See, Buttigieg's predecessor, Republican Elaine Chao, inherited a regulation set by the Obama administration in 2015 that would have required upgraded braking systems for freight trains by, ironically, 2023 . . . but she had it repealed in 2018 because she said it was economically unfeasible.

Elaine Chao is living proof that ethnic and gender diversity is not always a plus.  She's also the best argument against nepotism in government, as her husband is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Needless to say, Norfolk Southern is in deep doo-doo over this.  Some East Palestine residents have initiated a class-action lawsuit against the railroad and the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the company to clean up the mess thoroughly . . . and if Norfolk Southern doesn't do it, the agency will.

Presidents like Obama and Biden have worked tirelessly to make life more fair and just for white working-class people like the resident of East Palestine and so many other blue-collar communities in Ohio.  And yet Ohioans voted for Trump twice and sent James David Vance to the Senate.  It's amazing how much Ohioans beg for - and get - abuse.

"Thank you, sir, may have another?" 😱

Another Amtrak Derailment

The traffic derailment of the Amtrak train in DuPont, Washington on its first Seattle-Portland run is full of spectacular ironies, the main one being that the fall of some of the train's cars onto Interstate 5 caused massive disruptions on the very transportation network - our interstate system - that Amtrak is meant to relieve.  The lack of positive train control on the train called for more investments in our transportation infrastructure, yet the track itself was newly installed, and, as noted, this train was on its maiden run.

The facts on the ground, however, only illustrate how little attention we pay to our intercity passenger trains. The speed on this track was a mere 30 mile per hour, which meant that trains couldn't go too fast.  Other countries have trains that go at least four times as fast, but the track on this connection between the two most important cities in the Pacific Northwest couldn't handle even thrice that speed; the train derailed at an 80-mph speed.  The track was new, but the technology clearly wasn't.  And the new technology that was needed the most wasn't in place to ensure people's safety. 

And here's a more direct look at that trestle over I-5, from November 2016.

This picture gives you a less encumbered look at the graffiti on the overpass, symbolizing the blatant disregard and lack of respect for our national passenger train system.

And after all of this, three passengers on that train are dead.

Trump wants to spend money on infrastructure, and he hopes to have a plan to introduce sometime in 2018, but if you're a railfan, don't hold your breath.  Even if Republicans actually agree to any spending on infrastructure, Trump, despite his New York City roots,  isn't likely to increase spending on passenger rail, because Republican lawmakers outside the Northeast and California have zero interest in upgrading and modernizing Amtrak.  Indeed, they've spent the past 35 years trying to get rid of it, and this accident gives them an excuse to cut the very funding Amtrak needs to get positive train control installed system-wide.

I give up.  We're never going to have first-class rail service in this century . . . and more people are going to die or be hurt in accidents like the one in Washington State.  It's a damn disgrace. :-(