In an article in “The Jacobin” dated Feb. 11, “Pete Buttigieg’s Transportation Department is Skirting Safety Standards,” the authors lay the blame for the East Palestine derailment squarely at the feet of the federal government.
Since the Obama administration, every president has kicked the can down the road on upgrading the braking systems on trains to electronically controlled pneumatic or air brakes.
“When asked if the better braking technology would have reduced the severity of the Ohio accident, Steven Ditmeyer, a former senior official at the Federal Railroad Administration, said, “Yes.”
According to the article, “Norfolk Southern and the Association of American Railroads, a lobbying group that represents Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies, first touted the benefits of the technology before reversing course and lobbying against rules requiring trains to install the new brake systems. After rail lobbyists weakened Obama-era rail safety rules, the Trump administration killed the brake requirement entirely.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not commented publicly on the East Palestine disaster but is totally consumed with his “equity and inclusion” agenda for repairing potholes.
Craig Nichols
Findlay
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