COLUMBUS – Rail safety measures proposed after the East Palestine train derailment are closer to becoming law in Ohio.
A transportation budget approaching $13.5 billion cleared the Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday with those proposals and now heads to GOP Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval.
The legislation mostly funds highway and bridge projects over the next two years.
Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Dublin), who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, steered the bill through the Senate and conference committee negotiations where differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget were ironed out before it was approved by both houses with bipartisan support.
“I’m especially thankful for the funding dedicated to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor that will finally, after decades, alleviate the congestion and improve safety for the queen city’s traffic that has outgrown the historic bridge, and the economic impact this will have for our state,” House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.
One of the included rail safety proposals would require that wayside detectors be installed along railways at shorter intervals to identify problems.
The Ohio Railroad Association argues several of the measures are preempted by federal law. But state lawmakers contend they have the authority to create statewide safeguards.
The safety proposals also include a requirement that the wayside detectors used to help spot problems be installed 10 to 15 miles, with oversight from the Ohio Department of Transportation and public utilities commission. Currently, the Federal Railroad Administration allows some wayside detectors to be spaced up to 25 miles apart.
“These real time warning systems will help reduce the risk of another catastrophic derailment. There is no excuse for lax safety measures, as trains commonly rumble through intersections and neighborhoods across Ohio,” Senate Transportation Committee member Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) said.
The transportation budget also raises the threshold for the amount of money a local government can spend on projects such as bridge repairs by its own public workforce before it must bid them out to private contractors. The existing limits had been criticized as outdated and unnecessary obstacles to completing projects those local workforces were otherwise equipped to handle.
“This was a remarkably smooth process. One of the key issues we worked on gives local governments the ability to complete smaller projects in house without having to advertise them for bid,” Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
The budget also incorporates lower registration fees for plug-in hybrid vehicles, reducing the annual cost from $200 to $150.
The Transportation Budget is funded by the state’s gas tax.
Railroad will use Ohio firms for derailment cleanup
Norfolk Southern has agreed to exclusively use Ohio-based businesses to clean up the site of the fiery derailment last month.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost made the announcement Wednesday.
Yost said he thought the railroad should hire statewide businesses to do the work, which could take two years to complete. No one was injured in the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine.
But concerns over a potential explosion led state and local officials to approve releasing and burning toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars that forced the evacuations of half the village and closed schools for a week.