LOWELLVILLE, Ohio - Senator Sherrod Brown spoke in Lowellville about his continuing push for the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bill calls for stricter safety guidelines for train companies and stipulations to make those companies pay if an accident happens. 

Some of the bill requirements include having at least a two person crew on trains, more training for crews and more safety detectors on trains among other things. The bill was proposed in response to the East Palestine train derailment but was also written up based on other train disasters. 

“People who live here the trains go by, they just figure they’re safe. We learned a lesson and I pled guilty to that too,” Sen. Brown said about the East Palestine train derailment. 

“Had that happened here it would be devastation just like it is there,” James Luducuani, Mayor of Lowellville said about East Palestine. 

Some are questioning if the bill will actually prevent a disaster because many trains already have multiple crew members and safety detectors. The difference this bill would make is the response time to those detectors.

The Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine had two safety detector alerts that crews didn’t respond to.  

“The first detector saw this wheel getting warm. The second detector saw it increase, extremely warm and until the third detector is when it hit the threshold that the companies, every railroad company, sets their own threshold,” Clyde Whitaker, State Legislative Director of Smart Transportation Division said.

When crews responded to the third detector it was already too late. 

“Once this first detector started seeing this car warming up they should have been notified and stopped the train to check it out and that would’ve prevented the disaster,” Whitaker said. “This bill will resolve that.”

The bill also hopes to push for more thorough safety inspections, something Senator Brown and the bill's supporters said Norfolk Southern lacked because of the decrease in its workforce.  

“Norfolk Southern cut their workforce 38%. We have people that don’t have time to inspect railcars,” Whitaker said. “Safety has no time frame and that's the way we should be thinking.”

“We’re going to make the fines enough that it’s going to hurt this company if they don't follow safety rules,” Sen. Brown said. 

Even if the Senate passes the bill, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has the ability to make changes.

Brown said he’s going to keep watch of Buttigieg to make sure the bill is carried out “the way it should.”