Corporate greed and capitalist irresponsibility led to a fiery, jackknifed derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train in East Palestine, Ohio, on the evening of Feb. 3. East Palestine sits on the borders of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River. Railroad Workers United (RWU), a rank-and-file caucus made up of militant railroad union members, issued a statement Feb. 7 stating that the derailed train was known as the Norfolk Southern train NS 32N. On Feb. 5, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine ordered residents of East Palestine to evacuate immediately: “You need to leave; you just need to leave. Their press release, mentioned earlier, entitled, “Fiery Ohio Train Wreck the Result of PSR,” argues that the disaster could have been prevented, calling the derailment a “19th century-style mechanical failure” of an axle.
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