The Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine just over the border from us in Ohio should not have happened. The railroad should not have forced the vent and burn chemicals that caused the toxic fireball that we all remember.
So many of us in Western Pennsylvania were scared, worried and mad — and I went to work to force the railroads to operate more safely and to treat us with respect. In Congress, I introduced a rail safety bill to help protect all of us who live and work near the tracks — and I have been fighting the corporate railroad lobby to pass my bill ever since.
After three years, we finally have momentum and the wind at our backs. In May, my Railway Safety Act finally passed out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee as part of a must-pass transportation bill. Both Democrats and Republicans on the committee overwhelmingly supported it: the vote was 54-11!
The next step is a vote on the House floor. This fight is not over — the big railroads are fighting tooth and nail against this bill — but this is a righteous fight, and I know we can win. This is personal to our part of the world: More than 95% of the people in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District live within 5 miles of the tracks. My Railway Safety Act puts guardrails in place to hold big railroads accountable, protect rail workers and keep communities like ours safer. I refuse to let us be treated like collateral damage in the way of corporate railroad profits.
Let’s get this bill passed and signed into law. The people of Beaver County and East Palestine have waited long enough.
For more on my work in Congress, sign up for my e-newsletter at deluzio.house.gov, follow me on social media @RepDeluzio or call my office at 412-344-5583.
Very respectfully,
Chris Deluzio
Member of Congress
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