[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S781-S782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Rail Safety

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, I sent a letter to the 
National Transportation Safety Board Chair, Jennifer Homendy, urging 
her to expand NTSB's investigation of Norfolk Southern into a 
comprehensive review of all seven class I freight railroad companies' 
safety practices.
  Though the NTSB is currently investigating the toxic derailment in 
East Palestine and Norfolk Southern's questionable safety culture, I 
want to make something very clear: Norfolk Southern isn't the only rail 
company that has spent years lobbying to loosen regulations, neglect 
safety upgrades, and lay off workers.
  Norfolk Southern is just one example of a dangerous, industry-wide 
trend within the rail industry that puts profits over people's safety.
  In the last 5 years alone, there have been over 26,500 accidents and 
incidents in the rail industry, but instead of prioritizing safety, the 
industry cut over 30,000 employees from the workforce--roughly 20 
percent.
  We need the NTSB to expand its investigation because the current data 
can only tell part of the story. The data tells us how many accidents 
have occurred, but we want to know if they occurred in populated areas 
and how many gallons of oil were spilled or which toxic chemicals were 
released.
  We also need to know which of these accidents occurred because the 
tracks were severely degraded or poorly designed.
  We also want to know which negligent company policies contributed to 
the 2,700 deaths in recent years and if any of those could have been 
prevented.
  These are just some of the questions that my letter asks--ones that 
can only be answered by a complete, comprehensive, and rigorous 
investigation of the rail freight industry.
  I hope NTSB expands its investigation to include the safety practices 
and culture of all class I freight railroads. It is a necessary step to 
assure Americans that freight rail safety will improve.
  In the meantime, I again commend my colleagues Senators Brown and 
Vance of Ohio and Fetterman and Casey of Pennsylvania for introducing 
bipartisan legislation to improve rail

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safety and provide a check on the railroad industry. I will continue 
working with them to move it forward.