TARENTUM, Pa. — Steel tracks run through the center of the town in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. Like many areas near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the railroad has a substantial foothold in the community. Still, town officials believe safety and upkeep need to become a bigger priority for the railroad industry.
“Railroads, as we know, pass directly through our town, running close to homes, our schools, our businesses and our recreational areas,” said Tarentum Borough Council President Scott Dadowski during a press conference on Jan. 29. “This makes safety not just a matter of compliance with regulations, but a deep personal priority for all of us. A single incident can have wide-reaching consequences.”
Dadowski joined Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio to discuss the critical need for legislation like the Railway Safety Act, which Deluzio helped introduce in the wake of the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023. Deluzio represents communities just across the border from East Palestine, many of which were impacted by the derailment and subsequent burnoff.
But two years after the East Palestine derailment, small communities are still waiting for stricter railroad regulations.
Protecting small communities
The East Palestine derailment is what first sparked national concerns broadly over railway safety.
The East Palestine derailment occurred on Feb. 3, 2023, after an overheated wheel bearing failed. About 50 cars derailed, 11 of which were carrying hazardous materials and caught fire. Days later, five cars carrying vinyl chloride were purposefully vented off and burned to avoid a potential explosion.
As a result, Ohio and Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators introduced the bipartisan Railway Safety Act in March 2023. The act proposes stricter regulations for transporting hazardous materials, the installation of defect detectors on tracks, increasing fines for safety violations and providing funding for emergency response training among other things. Deluzio introduced a bipartisan companion bill in the House.
“I know that we can’t trust the railroads to regulate themselves,” Deluzio said. “It’s been almost two years since the derailment and Congress has still not passed rail safety legislation … There is strong lobbying against our bipartisan bill. That’s unacceptable to me, so I’m gonna continue that work.”
Deluzio also cosponsored the bipartisan Railroad Safety Enhancement Act in July 2024, which would establish the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program. The program would set aside $1 billion in “federal funds” for states and local governments to upgrade rail crossings and install safety features like flashing lights.
Western Pennsylvania is home to some of the most dangerous railroad crossings in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration’s Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Accident Prediction System. One crossing — the Cheswick crossing in Cheswick, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County — has the second highest accident rate in the northeastern United States.
According to FRA data, there were five deaths at the Cheswick crossing within the last five years. Many of these accidents and deaths were a result of cars getting hit by trains. The community has been advocating for increased safety measures for almost two decades, but, because the railroad is private property, neither Cheswick nor the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission can make changes. Only the railroad company, in this case, Norfolk Southern, can do so.
Tarentum officials have been seeking repairs to its deteriorating railway crossing since the spring of 2024. Norfolk Southern conducted repairs to the tracks in October, but Dadowski said this happened only after Deluzio stepped in.
“The borough worked hard and worked with us to push the railroad to make some improvements. That shouldn’t require a member of Congress to get action, 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 said. “But unfortunately, across my district, that’s the case.”
For Dadowski, the issue highlights why railroad legislation is so important.
Stalled railroad regulation
The Railway Safety Act was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in May 2023, but since then, has been waiting for a full Senate vote. Deluzio believes the stall is attributed to heavy lobbying by the railroad industry in Washington that has gotten Republican leadership backing.
Despite this, he emphasizes that the bill has bipartisan support from senators and congressmen from across Ohio and Pennsylvania. He pushed Vice President J.D. Vance — who introduced the Railway Safety Act alongside other senators — to continue supporting the bill in his new role.
“For us to get something done, we have to have Democrats and Republicans work together to pass rail safety legislation. I think this is an opportunity for the President and Vice President to put action behind some of their words around rail safety,” Deluzio said at the press conference.
According to Zoe Bluffstone, communications director for Deluzio, the Railway Safety Act will be reintroduced in the House the week of Feb. 3.
Deluzio has been a vocal advocate for the bill from the start and has proposed several subsequent bills. These include the Derail Act in February 2023 — to impose stricter regulations on trains carrying hazardous chemicals — the Assistance to Local Heroes During Train Crisis Act in April 2023 and the All Aboard Act proposed in December 2024.
Unlike other bills, the All Aboard Act seeks to address not only railroad safety but create a more reliable, cleaner railroad industry. The bill will set aside $300 million over five years to establish freight and passenger rail training centers; create a state rail formula program for maintenance, operations and funding; provide $50 million for turning the most polluting rail yards electric and address air pollution through the Clean Air Act.
Despite the momentum, none of the bills have yet to be enacted. The U.S. Department of Transportation did, however, pass a rule mandating two-person crews on trains in April 2024 — one of the biggest safety concerns highlighted by workers in the railroad industry after the East Palestine derailment.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)