Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer is demanding that the CEO of Norfolk Southern Railway testify publicly about this month’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Tuesday the derailment and subsequent chemical fire raised questions about the company’s practices and conduct.
“The accident has been deemed 100% preventable,” he said. “Norfolk Southern owes the American people some answers to some very important questions.”
Mr. Schumer accused the company of pushing former President Donald Trump’s administration to “repeal safety regulations” on America’s railways. He also claimed that Norfolk Southern had opted to lay off workers and buy back $10 billion of its stock in recent years, rather than invest in railway modernization.
“They could have used that money to upgrade safety equipment, hire more workers or pay employees better wages,” said Mr. Schumer. “Disasters like the one in East Palestine are precisely what can happen when safety takes a back seat to maximizing profits.”
Senate Democrats have signaled they plan to hold a probe into the East Palestine train derailment. Norfolk Southern manages the rail tracks upon which the derailment occurred.
The calls come as high-profile Republicans have blamed President Biden’s administration, most notably Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for not responding swiftly enough to the incident.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Mr. Buttigieg has failed to properly handle the “catalog of crises” that have unfolded under his watch.
“From this and other recent train derailments to the meltdown in air travel back during the holiday season, Secretary Buttigieg has seemed more interested in pursuing press coverage for woke initiatives and climate nonsense than in attending to basic elements of his day job,” the Kentucky Republican said.
The derailment near East Palestine was the third to occur on Northern Suffolk-owned tracks in the past six months. A similar derailment occurred in October near Sandusky, Ohio, and another happened this month in southeast Michigan.
Those derailments, however, paled in comparison to the incident in East Palestine, where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed two weeks ago and sparked a large chemical fire.
The derailment forced East Palestine residents to evacuate as toxic gas spilled into the atmosphere near the small town in northeastern Ohio.
Norfolk Southern has pledged to aid the federal and state government cleanup efforts. Democrats say that does not go far enough, however.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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