Deluzio calls on Vance to push rail safety on eve of East Palestine derailment anniversary

Tarentum borough council president Scott Dadowsk said the railroads are an essential part of the Allegheny Valley town’s livelihood. But without Congressional action, he said, railroads can also jeopardize a community’s way of life. “ A single incident can have wide-reaching consequences from public safety to economic impacts,” he said.

“In small towns like ours, where resources can be limited, it's critical that we act proactively to mitigate risks and prioritize safety for everyone who lives and works here. ” First responders in the Tarentum area have worried for years about the state of nearby tracks. “Every year preventable tragedies occur at these crossings,” said Brad James, the chief of Eureka Fire, Rescue and EMS.



Congressman Chris Deluzio said he’s pressed for repairs to the crossings, and the railroad responding. But, he said, “It shouldn’t take up so much effort from a borough, a small community to push a big powerful railroad to take care of their stuff.” Deluzio visited Tarentum Wednesday afternoon to urge Congress and the White House to take action on his Railway Safety Act.

The measure includes bigger fines, better technology to detect failures of wheel bearings like the one that led to the derailment and also a requirement to send more information to first responders about the hazardous materials trains are carrying. It’s been a signature issue for him since a 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio released toxic chemicals into the air. And he said Wednesday that after two years of inaction, it was time for Vice President J.

D. Vance and President Donald Trump to push Congressional Republicans to keep towns and cities along the railroad tracks safe. “For us to get something done, we have to have Democrats and Republicans work together,” Deluzio said.

“I think this is an opportunity for the President and the Vice President to put action behind some of their words around rail safety. Let's get it done.” On paper, at least, that shouldn’t take much effort either.

Vance had been a supporter of the legislation when he represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate.

And both he and Trump visited East Palestine in the aftermath of the derailment – their first public event together, at the site of one of Trump’s first political appearances after he left office in 2021. But Deluzio said he hasn’t heard anything on the topic since Trump and Vance won in November. Deluzio said he sent Vance a letter after he was elected Vice President and hasn’t heard back or had a conversation with Vance about the bill since.

The White House didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. Deluzio thinks the biggest obstacle to action is the railroad lobby in Washington that is supporting Republicans and asking them not to follow up on recommendations from a National Transportation Safety Board report on the 2023 derailment. Deluzio said Norfolk Southern had sacrificed the community for the sake of its own bottom line.

“At its core that railroad’s incompetence was also about their greed and their refusal to invest in safety, to invest in respecting communities like ours who their tracks run through,” Deluzio said. In an emailed statement, a representative for Norfolk Southern pointed to findings from the NTSB report that showed that there were no defects in the track that led to the derailment, and that the train was operating at the correct speed. The company denies that it was motivated by profits rather than safety, and says that in the past two years it has taken substantial steps to improve its safety record .

The company referred a question about whether it supported Deluzio’s bill to the Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group. “We saw that fireball go into the sky, which we now know, we now have learned, didn't have to happen,” he said. Deluzio spoke minutes after it was announced that the Trump administration had rescinded a memo calling for a freeze on government grants – a move that threw human-service agencies and local leaders into a panic.

Deluzio called that an “amateur” way to govern, and said he would fight to protect his district from the fallout. “You've got to do your best to mitigate impacts on your community and make sure you stand up for folks,” Deluzio said. “We also have to push a positive agenda and part of today is about that.

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