Is Congress capable of serious action on freight rail safety?

On Feb. 3, the only sound echoing farther than the thundering crash of the derailment of a 1.7-mile-long Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio was the subsequent outcry from politicians. Make no mistake, this was a disaster with explosions and fire (some of it deliberately set as a controlled burn to reduce the scale of the toxic spill). Despite the enormous turnout of emergency personnel and first-responders, elected officials from Ohio Gov.