Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about an extremely dangerous situation in rail corridors across America. This includes the busy mainline rail corridor between Pittsburgh and Chicago that cuts across northern Ohio, including most of my…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about an extremely dangerous situation in rail corridors across America. This includes the busy mainline rail corridor between Pittsburgh and Chicago that cuts across northern Ohio, including most of my district.
In northern Ohio, rail is the spine of our economy. To stay competitive in today's economy and avoid expensive supply chain delays, industrial and agricultural America must think big about modernizing rail solutions. Our Nation must prioritize rail safety, give people more transportation options, and expand access to national and international markets.
In the past year, three significant train derailments by Norfolk Southern have taken place in Ohio. In October 2022, a 21-car derailment occurred in my district at Sandusky, where Norfolk Southern has dragged its feet for over half a year in cleaning up the mess. That job is still not finished. This rail corridor again drew national attention with the major derailment earlier this year in East Palestine, Ohio.
The imperative topic of rail safety has many clear and sometimes deadly impacts on students across our Nation.
I include in the Record a recent ProPublica news article which highlights the risks for students in Hammond, Indiana.
[From the ProPublica]
As Rail Profits Soar, Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under
Trains to Get to School
(By Topher Sanders and Dan Schwartz, ProPublica, and Joce Sterman, Gray
Television/InvestigateTV)
Jeremiah Johnson couldn't convince his mother to let him
wear a suit, so he insisted on wearing his striped tie and
matching pocket square. It was picture day and the third
grader wanted to get to school on time. But as he and his mom
walked from their Hammond, Indiana, home on a cold, rainy
fall morning, they confronted an obstacle they'd come to
dread:
A sprawling train, parked in their path.
Lamira Samson, Jeremiah's mother, faced a choice she said
she has to make several times a week. They could walk around
the train, perhaps a mile out of the way; she could keep her
8-year-old son home, as she sometimes does; or they could try
to climb over the train, risking severe injury or death, to
reach Hess Elementary School four blocks away.
She listened for the hum of an engine. Hearing none, she
hurried to help Jeremiah climb a ladder onto the flat
platform of a train car. Once up herself, she helped him
scramble down the other side.
ProPublica and lnvestigateTV witnessed dozens of students
do the same in Hammond, climbing over, squeezing between and
crawling under train cars with ``Frozen'' and ``Space Jam''
backpacks. An eighth grade girl waited 10 minutes before she
made her move, nervously scrutinizing the gap between two
cars. She'd seen plenty of trains start without warning. ``I
don't want to get crushed,'' she said.
Recent spectacular derailments have focused attention on
train safety and whether the nation's powerful rail companies
are doing enough to protect the public--and whether federal
regulators are doing enough to make them, especially as the
companies build longer and longer trains.
But communities like Hammond routinely face a different set
of risks foisted on them by those same train companies, which
have long acted with impunity. Every day across America,
their trains park in the middle of neighborhoods and major
intersections, waiting to enter congested rail yards or for
one crew to switch with another. They block crossings,
sometimes for hours or days, disrupting life and endangering
lives.
News accounts chronicle horror stories: Ambulances can't
reach patients before they die or get them to the hospital in
time. Fire trucks can't get through and house fires blaze out
of control. Pedestrians trying to cut through trains have
been disfigured, dismembered and killed; when one train
abruptly began moving, an Iowa woman was dragged underneath
until it stripped almost all of the skin from the back of her
body; a Pennsylvania teenager lost her leg hopping between
rail cars as she rushed home to get ready for prom.
In Hammond, the hulking trains of Norfolk Southern
regularly force parents, kids and caretakers into an
exhausting gamble: How much should they risk to get to
school?
The trains, which can stretch across five or six
intersections at a time in this working-class suburb of
77,000, prevent students and teachers from getting to school
in the morning. Teachers must watch multiple classrooms while
their colleagues wait at crossings; kids sit on school buses
as they meander the streets of an entirely different city to
be dropped off a half-hour late. Brandi Odom, a seventh grade
teacher, estimates that at least half her class is delayed by
trains multiple times a week.
The adults entrusted with their safety--parents and
teachers, police and fire officials, the mayor--say they are
well aware of the pressures on students' minds when they face
a blocked crossing on foot. They know some are hungry and
don't want to miss breakfast; the vast majority in this 86
percent Black and Latino district qualify for free or
reduced-price meals at school. And they know that many of
their parents commute to work an hour away to Chicago,
trusting older brothers or sisters to pick up or drop off
their siblings.
``I feel awful about it,'' said Scott E. Miller, the
superintendent. His district has asked Norfolk Southern for
its schedule so that the schools can plan for blockages and
students can adjust their routines. The company has
disregarded the requests, school officials said.
Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said that his experience with
the rails has been similar, and that company officials have
reminded him the rails ``were here first,'' running through
Hammond before it was even a city. ``To them, I am nobody,''
he said. ``They don't pay attention to me. They don't respect
me. They don't care about the city of Hammond. They just do
what they want.''
In written responses to questions, a spokesperson for
Norfolk Southern said children climbing through their trains
concerns the company.
``It is never safe for members of the public to try to
cross the cars,'' spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said. ``We
understand that a stopped train is frustrating, but trains
can move at any time and with little warning--especially if
you are far from the locomotive where the warning bell is
sounded when a train starts.''
He said trains routinely sit in Hammond for a number of
reasons: That section of track is between two busy train
intersections that must remain open; Norfolk Southern can't
easily move a train backward or forward, because that would
cut off the paths for other trains, which could belong to
other companies. And Hammond is a suburb of Chicago, which is
the busiest train hub in the nation, creating congestion up
and down the network.
He said Norfolk Southern is working to identify an area
where trains can stage further down its line and to have less
impact on the community. The company will also review its
procedures to see whether its trains can give louder warnings
before they start moving. (ProPublica reporters witnessed
trains in Hammond start moving without warning.) Spielmaker
said that train schedules vary so much that giving Hammond
one might not be helpful. He said that the company is in
``constant communication'' with local officials, and that
representatives will discuss any proposed fixes with Hammond.
Rail companies around the country could better coordinate
their schedules, parking trains far from schools that are in
session.
They could also build shorter trains that fit into railyards
so their tail ends don't block towns' crossings. Hammond
essentially serves as a parking lot for Norfolk Southern's
trains, creating a problem so pressing that Indiana plans to
spend $14 million--about $10 million of which is coming from
federal grants--to build an overpass for cars. The bridge
won't help many students, who would need to walk at least a
mile out of their way just to reach it. Norfolk Southern, the
multibillion-dollar corporation causing the problem, is
contributing just $500,000 of the bridge's cost, despite the
city asking for more.
Norfolk Southern did not respond directly to questions
about whether it should chip in more to the upcoming project,
but the company said it contributes to many safety projects
and maintains more than 1,600 grade crossings in Indiana
alone. Read the company's full response here.
On three separate occasions during the fall and winter,
reporters witnessed Norfolk Southern trains blocking
intersections leading to an elementary, a middle and a high
school for four, six and seven hours. ProPublica and
InvestigateTV showed footage of kids making the crossing,
including an elementary student crawling under a train, to
representatives of Norfolk Southern, lawmakers and Secretary
of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, whose remit includes rail
safety.
He was shocked.
``Nobody,'' Buttigieg said, ``can look at a video with a
child having to climb over or under a railroad car to get to
school and think that everything is OK.''
The video also stunned state officials who had long known
about the problem. ``That takes my breath away,'' said
Indiana state Rep. Carolyn Jackson, who represents the
Hammond area and has filed a bill attempting to address
blocked crossings every session for the past five years. None
has ever gotten a hearing. ``I hope that they will do
something about it and we won't have to wait until a parent
has to bury their child.''
The blocked crossing problem is perennial, especially in
cities like Hammond that are near large train yards. But in
the era of precision scheduled railroading, a management
philosophy that leans heavily on running longer trains,
residents, first responders, rail workers and government
leaders told ProPublica it is getting worse as trains stretch
farther across more intersections and crossings. ``The length
of the long trains is 100% the cause of what's going on
across the country right now,'' said Randy Fannon, a national
vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and
Trainmen. ``No engineer wants to block a crossing.''
The Federal Railroad Administration, the agency that
regulates rail safety, started a public database in late 2019
for complaints about blocked crossings and fielded more than
28,000 reports of stopped trains last year alone. Among them
were thousands of dispatches from 44 states about
pedestrians, including kids, crossing trains. Someone in
North Charleston, South Carolina, summarized the situation in
three letters: ``Wtf.''
A rail administration spokesperson said the agency shares
the data monthly with companies. ``When railroads fail to act
quickly,'' and if a crossing is reported as blocked three
days in a calendar month, officials will contact a company to
determine the cause and try to work out solutions, Warren
Flatau said. ``We are receiving various levels of cooperation
. . . and welcome more consistent engagement.'' Read more
about what the agency says it is doing here.
Buttigieg said that this spring or summer, he expects to
announce the first grants in a new U.S. Department of
Transportation program designed to help alleviate blocked
crossings. The federal government is putting $3 billion into
the program over five years.
State lawmakers have tried to curb blocked crossings by
restricting the lengths of trains. Since 2019, in Arkansas,
Iowa, Kansas, Georgia, Nebraska, Virginia, Washington,
Arizona and other states, lawmakers have proposed maximum
lengths of 1.4 to about 1.6 miles. (There is no limit now,
and trains have been known to stretch for 2 or more miles.)
Every proposal has died before becoming law.
Opponents, including the nation's largest railroad
companies, claim that the efforts are driven by unions to
create jobs and that the measures would violate interstate
commerce laws. As ProPublica has reported, train length has
been essential to creating record profits for rail companies
in recent years.
The industry has also sued to block more modest measures.
In Hammond, for instance, police used to be able to write
tickets for about $150 every time they saw a train stalled at
a crossing for more than five minutes. Instead of paying the
individual citations, Hammond officials told ProPublica,
Norfolk Southern would bundle them and negotiate a lower
payment.
``We weren't getting anything,'' McDermott, the mayor,
said, ``but it made our residents feel good.'' An Indiana
court took the industry's side--as many courts in other
states have done--ruling that only the federal government
held power over the rails. ``We can't even write tickets
anymore,'' the mayor said. ``It was more of an illusion, and
we can't even play the illusion anymore.''
He said the blockages have forced Hammond to keep more
firefighters and stations than would normally be needed for a
city its size. ``I have to have a firehouse fully staffed on
both sides of the rail line so that we can respond in a
timely manner to an emergency, which is very expensive,''
McDermott said.
The problem has become so endemic in Hammond that getting
``trained,'' or stalled at crossings, has become a verb.
Police officers are delayed several times a day, said
Hammond Police Department spokesperson Lt. Steve Kellogg.
Last October, an officer couldn't get backup as he confronted
a man who was holding a knife, bleeding and not responding to
commands. The officer pulled his weapon and the man
ultimately cooperated, but someone could have died, Kellogg
said. Hammond's powerlessness over the rails is frustrating,
he added. ``They're all controlled by the feds, and they do
whatever the hell they want to do.''
Spielmaker, the Norfolk Southern spokesperson, said: ``We
work with first responders on a daily basis to assist however
we can. For example, there was a situation in Georgia where a
train was stopped on a crossing due to a broken down train
ahead. The train could not be moved, so we worked with the
first responders to make sure the train was safe for them to
maneuver through with it in place.''
In his 24 years fighting fires in Hammond, Mike Hull,
president of a local union, said not once has he seen
railroads do that for first responders. ``They've never come
back and said, 'We're going to move this train for vou;'' he
said.
State and local officials grew hopeful on March 20 when the
U.S. Supreme Court invited the federal government to comment
on a petition from Ohio seeking the authority to regulate how
long a train can block a crossing. The high court will likely
hear the case if the solicitor general recommends it, said
Tom Goldstein, publisher of SCOTUSblog, which is widely seen
as an authority on the court. Nineteen other states have
signaled their support for a Supreme Court case. Goldstein
expects the solicitor general to respond in November or early
December. A favorable court opinion could allow other states
to finally enforce their laws on blocked crossings.
In the meantime, Buttigieg believes federal lawmakers must
intervene to give the Federal Railroad Administration the
power to compel rail companies to keep crossings clear. This
time of intense public interest in railroads has opened a
window for action, Buttigieg said, but it is fleeting. ``Any
moment that the public attention starts to fade, the
railroads are then once again in a position to assert
themselves in Washington and to ignore some of the phone
calls they are getting in the communities,'' he said.
Buttigieg said his staff is ready to participate in a
federal hearing in which it can tell lawmakers what new
authorities they would need to regulate blocked crossings.
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, said she is eager for new
law. A fire chief in her district, which covers parts of the
Houston area, told her the department has had to detour 3,200
times since 2019 because of blocked crossings. She and other
congressional Democrats introduced the Don't Block Our
Communities Act in early March, but it has not yet gained
bipartisan traction. The proposed law would prohibit rail
companies from blocking crossings for more than 10 minutes
and would allow the rail administration to fine companies for
repeated violations.
Like the other officials, Garcia said she was aghast, but
not surprised, about the situation in Hammond. ``That is
outrageous, look at the little bitty baby,'' she said while
watching a video of a young girl crawling under a train car.
``That's what I mean about making sure we do more to protect
the safety of our children. That happens too in Houston.''
In Hammond, a public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at
5:30 p.m. at Scott Middle School to discuss the overpass
project. Among those who hope to voice their concerns about
the blocked crossings are rail workers themselves who worry
about the kids. ``It's just a matter of time until there is a
catastrophic incident,'' said Kenny Edwards, the Indiana
legislative director for the nation's largest rail union.
Efrain Valdez, president of the parent teacher association,
said he hopes officials can adjust plans to help students who
need to walk to school. ``To see our children in danger like
that, that's just downright crazy,'' he said. ``I'm just
appalled and heartbroken that [the railroad] would think
that's OK. That their money means more to them than a child's
life.''
Until there's a better solution, the ritual continues. Some
parents act as de facto crossing guards, standing beside
trains to help their children and others cross. Others ask
their kids to call them before and after they make the climb,
while warning them about the worst that can happen.
Rudy Costello tells his daughter, who is in high school, to
be careful, because if the train moves she ``could slip and
then there goes your leg and your foot. Or you get pulled
under the train and there goes you all together.'' He added:
``That's been my biggest fear, her foot slipping off. . . .
But what can you do? Because those trains are always stopping
over there, for hours.''
Akicia Henderson said she has tried to avoid making the
dangerous climb with her 10-year-old daughter. ``I called a
Lyft,'' she said. ``The Lyft driver actually canceled on me
twice because he couldn't get around the train.''
So she walks toward the tracks, picturing all that can go
wrong--a jacket snags, a backpack tangles, the wheels begin
to turn. She prays that this will be one of the days their
path isn't blocked and that she doesn't hear the sound she
has most come to fear, a horn in the distance.
``It's like, `Oh my God, the train is coming.' ''
Mr. Speaker, children are forced to crawl over or under very long parked trains that block their path to school. ProPublica and InvestigateTV witnessed dozens of students in Hammond climbing over, squeezing between, and crawling under the train cars just to make their way to and from school.
Railroads of America, wake up.
In my district in northwest Ohio, I have also witnessed situations with students in extremely dangerous and deadly situations.
In December of 2009 along that same mainline rail crossing at McCord Road in Lucas County, Ohio, a train hit two students on foot in my district, killing one of them and putting the other in critical condition at Toledo Hospital where she underwent surgery.
Cody L. Brown, a 15-year-old freshman, was pronounced dead at the scene. Brianna Mullinger was taken in critical condition to Toledo Hospital. The students, both band members, were walking to school when that westbound Amtrak train struck them.
In the wake of this tragedy, our community constructed an underpass below the Norfolk Southern rail line at McCord Road to try to avoid future tragedies at this same rail crossing.
There are numerous such places across this corridor. Our effort protects students, pedestrians, and drivers without interrupting traffic or flow of trains, pedestrians, or cars that pass through this intersection.
These stories are emblematic of some of the longstanding and unaddressed real issues America continues to face to this day.
Railroads of America, wake up.
Let us use our bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to fix these rail problems that exist and take steps to address them coast to coast. Now is a pivotal point where our Nation can fix these challenges with funds available from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and President Biden to pay particular attention to this regional corridor from Pittsburgh to Chicago. It is so dangerous. Help us convene rail stakeholders to relieve congestion and identify key infrastructure improvement projects.
This is a time freight companies like Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Amtrak should come together at the same table. Let us craft solutions to address longstanding issues regarding rail safety.
Communities are begging to work with these companies that never return phone calls to help fix these longstanding, solvable challenges. We must look to the future and join together to protect the public: our students, our rail workers, and our communities.
Let us deliver both transformative and safe commercial and passenger rail solutions. The tools are at our disposal. The money is there.
Where are the rail companies?
The time is now. Let's do what we in the industrial Midwest do best. Let's get to work.