SPENCER, Ohio — Three and a half months after the East Palestine train derailment, News 5 continues to follow through in our reporting on the Norfolk Southern train derailment, but that certainly wasn't the last derailment to speak of.
Consider what has happened in the months since the East Palestine wreck. In March, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near Dayton. Just last week, another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes from East Palestine. On Monday, a CSX train with 18 cars derailed in Wayne County, and then overnight, a train derailed in Medina County, closing down a portion of State Route 301. None of these were nearly as serious as the East Palestine incident, but they have all placed new attention on railway safety.
The East Palestine train derailment on Feb. 3 served as a catalyst of change regarding railroad safety. It spurred legislation like the Railroad Safety Act, but it also put a spotlight on derailments and how often they occur across Ohio.
“Many times, that regular maintenance is forgotten in lieu of keeping the traffic moving,” said Spencer Mayor Dan DeRossett.
On Tuesday evening, the most recent derailment happened at the intersection of State Route 301 and 162, where a Wheeling and Lake Erie train went off the tracks. DeRossett said he's not surprised. In 2022, the Ohio Rail Development Commission approved a grant to Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway to reconfigure connecting tracks in Spencer. There have been seven derailments in Medina County in the last 10 years.
“We have train traffic 24/7 through Spencer, this being a major switching yard for Wheeling Lake Erie railroad,” DeRossett said.
In Ohio, there have been over 460 train derailments in nearly 10 years. Between 2014 and 2017, there were over 60 derailments, on average, a year. The exception is in 2015, where there were 50. But from 2018 through 2020 there was a drop in derailments, averaging over 40 a year. From 2021 to now, those numbers seem to be climbing again, reaching almost 50 derailments a year. So far in Ohio, for 2023, there have been 11 derailments.
“It's just that especially after the one in East Palestine, it makes news now, when before it didn't,” said DeRossett.
In a bi-partisan effort after the East Palestine disaster, senators like Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Sherrod Brown want to see railroad improvements, even though the data shows derailments have been an ongoing issue over the last decade.
The new rail safety measures, if passed, would mandate two-person crews for freight trains traveling in Ohio and require wayside defect detectors to be installed 10 to 15 miles apart.
DeRossett believes better maintenance of railroads is part of the solution, but also just slowing down.
“We are just fortunate they slow down here at Spencer because it is a switching yard — they have to slow down, so any derailment that we may get hopefully isn't as severe as trains moving at higher speeds," DeRossett added.
If the Railroad Safety Act passes, only time will tell if the proposed safety regulations cause fewer derailments. In the meantime, DeRossett feels Spencer could be the next East Palestine.
“It's not a matter of if, but when we are going to have a problem,” DeRossett.
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