Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Wednesday expressed concerns that Illinois was at risk of being the next locale of a dangerous freight rail accident like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
"Illinois sits at the center of our nation's freight rail network," the Illinois Democrat said during the nearly five-hour hearing of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee examining the East Palestine incident. "All seven Class 1 railroads run through our state, including Norfolk Southern, as they all converge near Chicago. The Chicago region's freight rail network is enormous. We have 3,865 miles of rail, nearly 1,400 of which is shared by passenger trains."
"We see 1,300 trains a day moving through the Chicago area, which is one of the most densely populated areas of the country," Duckworth continued. "To say that rail safety is important to our state would be an understatement. Yet, over the past decade, there have been at least 272 hazardous-material incidents involving trains in 70 different Illinois communities. Last year, we were tied for the third-highest total hazardous-material incidents in the nation."
The bottom line, she said, "is that what happened in East Palestine could have just (as) easily happened in Illinois."
The hearing featured testimony from Ohio elected officials, an East Palestine resident, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, who apologized and said the railroad could support some provisions of a bipartisan rail safety bill introduced by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican.
Duckworth, a committee member, questioned the NTSB's Homendy about the safety risk of blocked rail crossings, noting that Illinois had passed a law in 1999 addressing that issue, but it was overturned in by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2008 because federal rail safety laws pre-empted state measures.
Duckworth also asked Homendy whether she believed civil fines imposed on railroads for safety violations were strong enough. Such fines are often negotiated down to "pennies on the dollar," Homendy said.
"Do you think pennies on the dollar is an effective deterrent for a multibillion-dollar company like Norfolk Southern?" Duckworth said.
"I do not," Homendy replied.
