Two more trains derailed on Monday less than two weeks after an Ohio train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded. In East Texas, a Union Pacific train carrying hazardous materials was derailed after being struck by an 18-wheeler but no tanks were ruptured in the crash. Later on Monday, another train derailed in Enoree, South Carolina. Ron Kaminkow, Amtrak locomotive engineer and former Norfolk Southern freight engineer, noted these incidents are a wake-up call that the U.S.’s rail workforce has suffered due to the focus on profits over safety. He warned: “If something is not done, then it’s going to get worse, and the next derailment could be cataclysmic.” Questions arise as to why Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg took ten days to comment on the Ohio disaster.
