Another Norfolk Southern train derails just hours before rail boss faces safety hearing
ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports on the latest train to go off the rails in the US.
Words by ITV News Washington DC Producer Will Tullis.
Another Norfolk Southern train derailed in the United States on Thursday, just hours before the company's boss faced questions from senators on rail safety.
In what was the third Norfolk Southern train derailment in just over a month, thirty carriages came off the tracks on freight service travelling through Alabama at 6:45am on Thursday morning. No one was injured during the incident, but two of the carriages were carrying hazardous materials.
The company's chief executive, Alan Shaw, was already scheduled to give evidence to a Senate committee on rail safety later that morning.
Mr Shaw faced a group of senators from both Democrat and Republican parties have drawn up a rail safety bill to improve standards. Some of the group accused Mr Shaw of putting profits above safety.
"The company followed the Wall Street business model: boost profits by cutting costs at all costs. The consequence for places like East Palestine be damned", said Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown, who represents Ohio, a state where two Norfolk Southern trains have derailed in the last month. "If Norfolk Southern had paid a little more attention to safety and a little less attention to its profits...these accidents would not have been about as bad or maybe not have happened at all", he added.
Mr Shaw told senators - who are working on a bipartisan rail safety bill - today he is "deeply sorry" for the East Palestine incident and said he is "determined" to make things right.
"We're also going to make our safety culture the best in the industry", Mr Shaw told the Senate committee.
Mr Shaw refused to endorse the rail safety bill outright, but said he supports "legislative intent" to make railways safer.
In February, a train carrying toxic cargo derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. 2000 of the town's 4800 residents were evacuated into temporary accommodation. Some residents reported breathing problems and skin rashes.
Authorities conducted a controlled burn to get rid of the substances.
Former president Donald Trump visited East Palestine and accused President Joe Biden and his administration of not caring or acting fast enough.
Some have, however, pointed out that it was Mr Trump who - in 2017 - repealed a Barack Obama-instated law that required added safety measures on trains carrying hazardous materials.
Another Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials then derailed on Sunday (March 9) in Springfield, Ohio.
There were over 1100 derailments in the United States in 2022, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The country averages three derailments per day.