America’s economy depends on moving goods across the country quickly, efficiently, and safely. Sometimes that means hazardous materials essential for modern life are being carried on our highways or on rail lines, and nothing is more important than safety. Government and industry have a responsibility to keep our families, our friends, and our communities safe.
I know that responsibility first-hand. During my time serving as the Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), safety was always our highest priority. Safety First was our mantra for every decision. And, despite claims to the contrary, I know that safety was a priority for railroads, as well.
Unfortunately, no matter how much we prioritize safety, there are still accidents. When they do happen, we need to learn from them, use that information to right the wrongs, and continue toward our goal of zero injuries or accidents.
When the tragic derailment at East Palestine occurred, it served as a stark reminder that there is always room for improvement in the technologies and infrastructure we rely on daily to move our economy and critical commodities such as chemicals, energy, and agriculture.
As expected, Congress moved rail safety to the top of its priority list almost immediately in an effort to “do something.” Legislative bodies have a responsibility to exercise oversight and take necessary action to prevent the likelihood of future accidents. But by their very nature, they are also reactionary, and “doing something” is sometimes detrimental to what they are trying to accomplish.
Right now, for example, at both the state and federal level there are calls for mandatory larger crew sizes. However, in the case of what happened in East Palestine, more engineers in the cab would not have had any impact on the accident or response. Efforts to require a two-person crew are not based on data and lack a safety justification, and this has been true during both Democrat and Republican administrations.
The insertion of a crew size mandate into proposed legislation underscores a concern I observed throughout my time at PHMSA: regulations cannot be so rigid that they restrict industry innovation and advancement. Government should provide direction but must afford industry the flexibility to achieve the best technological solutions. In this case, money that would be diverted to an unnecessary crew mandate would be better spent on the design and testing of upgraded technologies that result in measurably increased safety.
Data reported by the Federal Railroad Administration shows that the past decade has been the safest in rail history and that embracing advanced safety technology is, indeed, the path forward. The overall accident rate is 28% lower now than it was in 2000, the rate of accidents caused by track defects set a record low in 2022, and the rate of accidents caused by equipment defects fell 21% from 2000 to 2022. This is a direct result of safety improvements and investments in maintenance and technologies.
In 2019, the National Petroleum Council, a federally chartered and privately funded advisory group established in 1946 at President Truman’s request, released its in-depth Dynamic Delivery report. The report analyzes the U.S. energy landscape through 2040 and makes recommendations on regulations that enable new technology and improve safety and environmental performance.
In its extensive section on rail, the report noted that “by many measures, recent years have been the safest in history. Railroads today have lower employee injury rates than most other major industries. Further improvements in railroad transportation safety are possible by harnessing advancements in technology development.” It further noted that “The railroad industry is developing and advancing technologies to further improve safety performance.” By comparison, truck-related accidents involving hazardous materials caused over 16 times more fatalities from 1975 to 2021, and nearly three times as much property damage in the last three years.
Rail accidents may get the headlines, but truck accidents are more frequent. Statistics such as these are important to keep in mind as Congress continues to mandate and legislate the rail industry; every new cost burden applied to rail affects competitiveness by pushing more hazmat onto our highways. Instead of pursuing new regulations because they play to the public relations, sound-bite side of politics, we should be encouraging the evaluation and acceptance of new technologies – that is what is going to keep our railroads, and our communities, safer.
To better understand the root cause of our safety shortfalls, we need to fund research and technology development. Both the regulators and the railroads should adopt robust Safety Management Programs (SMP) which are proven to enhance safety. An umbrella approach like SMP embraces everyone in the chain from supplier to customer; in all things, we are only as good as our weakest link.
As Congress continues to debate the Railway Safety Act, we can only hope that members will base their decision-making on real data, not emotion or political grandstanding. It is not too late to listen to the experts, look at reliable data, and move forward with reason.
Drue Pearce served as Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) at the USDOT, as a senior advisor to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretaries Gale Norton and Dirk Kempthorne, and as the Federal Coordinator at the Office of Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects. She is currently the Director of Government Affairs at Holland and Hart.
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