Sen. Sherrod Brown ‘not entirely satisfied’ with Norfolk Southern response to second Ohio train derailment

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he was “not entirely satisfied” with the response to the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in Ohio on Saturday, following a derailment of one of the company’s trains in the state last month.

“I’m not entirely satisfied,” Brown told ABC’s “This Week.” “Because I want to know if there is some sort of remnants of something that might have been in those cars. Those cars were mostly empty. But I want to know if there are any contaminants sort of left in those mostly empty cars.”

About 20 cars belonging to a Norfolk Southern train derailed near Springfield, Ohio, over the weekend, making it the second train owned by the company to derail in the state in just over a month. But officials for the company said that there were no chemicals on board the second train. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) also said it was believed that there were no toxins on board.

No injuries were reported from the derailment, which left 1,500 customers without power and caused a short shelter in place for homes in the area.

Brown said that state and local officials were “pretty satisfied” with Norfolk Southern’s response, but he said he wanted more details. 

“The railroad’s got a lot of questions they’ve got to answer and they really haven’t done it very well yet,” Brown said.

Federal lawmakers have clamored for more accountability in the first train derailment on Feb. 3 as Brown and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) have introduced a bill to increase fines and strengthen inspections for rail companies.