A flaming train derailment sparked political demands for a new safety law. That's gone nowhere

After February's freight train derailment and chemical fire in East Palestine, Ohio, Democrats and Republicans — including Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley — joined to push for the Railway Safety Act of 2023. But the legislation is likely dead, says one industry expert who calls it "a political stunt."
When a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed and caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio, in February, the ominous black tower of toxic smoke was all over national news. The crash and its aftermath became a rallying cry for politicians across the spectrum.

That same month, a FedEx driver died after an Amtrak train headed from Los Angeles to Chicago crashed into a truck near Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Just a few months earlier, in June 2022, four people had been killed and dozens more injured when a train on that same Amtrak route hit a dump truck loaded with rock at a crossing in tiny Mendon, Missouri.

Passenger trains don’t carry explosives or toxic chemicals, though, so they can’t do the same kind of damage that a derailed freight train can. The East Palestine derailment sparked bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting rail communities.

But somewhere along the line, the Railway Safety Act of 2023 went off the tracks.